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WEEK-DAY SCHOOL SERIES GEORGE HERBERT BETTS, Editor 



Followers of the 
Marked Trail 



BY 

NANNIE LEE FRAYSER 




THE ABINGDON PRESS 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 




Copyright, 1921, by 

NANNIE LEE FRAYSER 

All Rights Reserved 



JUL-2 f 2l 



©CI.A614896 



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CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Trail Makers 7 

II. The Great Pioneer of the Marked 

Trail 13 

III. Where the Roads Forked 21 

IV. From the Marked Trail to the Detour 26 
V. A Promise and a Warning 33 

VI. A Successful Search 41 

VII. A Strange Bargain 47 

VIII. The Result of the Bargain 52 

IX. After Many Years 59 

X. A Boy Who Had Everything He Wanted 65 

XI. A Series of Adventures 73 

XII. How Joseph Won a Great Victory 82 

XIII. Making a Choice 93 

XIV. A Man Who Defied God 100 

XV. Seeking the Trail 106 

XVI. A Brave General 116 

XVII. Making a Promise 125 

XVIII. The Woman Who Helped 131 

XIX. A Daring Messenger 137 

XX. A Test On a Mountain 144 

XXI. Following a Great Leader 152 

XXII. A Wonderful Ally 160 

XXIII. A Danger Signal on the Trail 166 

XXIV. The Lion-Hearted Prophet 173 

XXV. A Message of Hope and Joy 182 

XXVI. A Patriot in the Valley 189 

XXVII. A Promise Fulfilled, 195 

XXVIII. The Path-Finder 201 

XXIX. Proofs of Power 207 

XXX. A Lesson For Trail Followers 212 

XXXI. A Helper of the Path-Finder 217 

XXXII. One Who Put Up Many Sign Posts .... 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

A Marked Trail Frontispiece ** 

Facing Page 

Rebekah at the Well 42 y 

Jacob Meeting Esau 60 

The Finding of Moses 108 **""* 

Elijah Meeting Ahab 146 L 

Ezekiel 185 l^ 

The Messengers to Isaiah 191 > 

Head of Christ 198 u^ 

The Loaves and Fishes 209 U- 

Paul at Miletus 




CHAPTER I 
TRAIL MAKERS 



"The Lincoln Highway, which connects New 
York City with San Francisco," said Jack. 

"The Dixie Highway, which goes from Chi- 
cago to sunny Florida," responded Virginia. 

"The Mohawk Trail, which takes you through 
the most beautiful sections of New England," 
called out Helen. 

"The Adirondack Trail, that gives you a trip 
through the wonderful mountains," said Henry. 

Father was referee and the children were play- 
ing a favorite twilight game. Jack and Virginia 
were trying to down Helen and Henry, and they 
made it lively for father. The object was to 
name the largest number of important highways 
— the Marked Trails over which thousands of 
automobiles spin along on their errands of busi- 
ness or pleasure, and to give an idea of the sec- 
tions of country through which they are built. 

Excitement grew as the game progressed, and 
a score of answers were given correctly, but after 
Virginia and Jack had challenged with "Yellow- 
stone Trail" and "Great White Way," Helen 
and Henry had to give up, and Virginia's side 
was declared victor. 

"I can play a game almost as interesting as 

7 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

that one in my imagination," said father. "I 
like to go back to the days when there were none 
of these splendid highways, when there were not 
even well-traveled roads, when there were no signs 
along the way or at the corners to tell the trav- 
eler which way to turn. I like to remember the 
days of the pioneers and picture to myself how 
it must have looked in those days." 

"I know something about it, father," said Jack, 
"because we've learned it in our history class at 
school. Years ago there were no white people in 
most of the Western part of our country, but 
there were Indians there. When the white people 
first went westward they drove covered wagons, 
in wljich the women and little children rode, and 
the men rode on horses, and some of them even 
walked. There were no roads at all, but some- 
times the pioneers found trails which the Indians 
had made, and when there were not even trails, 
they had to pick their way as best they could." 

"You are quite right, Jack, they did have to do 
a great many difficult things as they opened the 
new country, and perhaps that is one reason that 
they were so careful to think about the people 
who might some day come after them, for they 
often marked the trails over which they were 
passing, so that the travelers who might chance 
to come along that way should find it less difficult 
than it had been for them." 

"What kind of marks did they make, father?" 
asked Helen. 



TRAIL MAKERS 

"O I know! Let me tell her, father," begged 
Henry. 

"All right, son, you may tell us all," said 
father. 

"I have a storybook that tells all about it," 
said Henry. "That's the way I happen to know. 
Sometimes they would blaze a tree so the fol- 
lowers would see the sign, sometimes they would 
break off branches or twigs. At other places 
they would pile up a mound of stones or sod, and 
often they would drive stakes in the ground. The 
followers were on the lookout for traveling signs, 
and it is wonderful how they understood them." 

"Were all these trails and signs the beginning 
of our roads?" asked Virginia. 

"Not all of them," answered father, "but as 
time went on some of them did become the very 
highways over which the automobiles go to-day. 
More and more people traveled over them. Trails 
grew into paths, paths into roads, the roads were 
broadened and improved, great companies of 
men worked with one another to make the prob- 
lem of getting from place to place easier, and 
now we have our great highway system with its 
colored bands and numbers and signboards, and 
it is only the careless or ignorant driver who loses 
his way on the best highways." 

"Then there are the guidebooks, father ; I think 
they are a wonderful help, don't you? I thought 
one of the finest things about our tour last sum- 
mer was sitting on the front seat by you and 

9 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

hunting out all the things in the guidebook ahead 
of time so we did not run the risk of going 
wrong." 

"That makes me want to get into the conversa- 
tion," said mother, " for Jack has made me think 
of the greatest Guidebook in all the world, in 
which the bravest men have put down rules and 
signs to keep others from going wrong. It was 
given to us by the great Guide, who wants us all 
to keep in the right path. In this Guidebook 
there are stories of pioneers who braved hard- 
ships in order to open the paths for others, there 
are accounts of adventures more thrilling than I 
have ever read in any other adventure book, there 
is the life story of the one Trail Maker who never 
went wrong, and who came to the earth just to 
make a plain path for those who should come 
after him." 

"Well, I know exactly what book you mean, 
mother, and who the great Guide was," said Jack, 
"but it is the first time I ever thought of Jesus 
as a Pioneer or a Trail Maker, but I like to think 
of him that way." 

"But I wanted to tell you," went on mother, 
"that a class is to be formed this week for the 
boys and girls who want to know more about the 
makers of history who were sent by God to open 
the way in the beginning, and Miss Crawford 
was here this afternoon to find out how many of 
this family will join for Wednesday and Friday 
afternoons during the school term." 

10 



TRAIL MAKERS 

"Let us take the count," said father. "I'll call 
the roll for the Johnson family, and all who care 
to learn more of the history in the Bible may 
answer 'Aye.' " 

"Jack answer first, as he is the oldest." 

"Aye," voted Jack. 

"Virginia next." 

"Aye," answered Virginia. 

"Henry Johnson." 

"Aye," almost shouted Henry. 

"Helen, do you think you are old enough to 
join?" asked mother. 

"If I can play the game of Trail Makers, I 
think I can study the lessons," Helen urged. 

"That makes it unanimous," said father. 

So it was arranged that the children should 
join the class to study about Trail Makers of 
other times. Perhaps you will meet them there. 

Study Topics 

1. What automobile trails or highways besides 

those mentioned in the lesson can you 
name? What famous trails made by the 
early explorers or the pioneer settlers? 

2. Explain what is meant by trail makers who 

show us the way to live. Physicians and 
scientists have marked out the trail by 
which we can avoid sickness and so keep 
well and strong. To avoid colds, they put 
up the signs, "Open windows while you 
sleep," "Exercise in the open air," etc. 
11 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Can you give still other signboards direct- 
ing the way to health? 

3. What trail makers from American history 

do you most admire ? For what great serv- 
ice was each famous? that is, what "trail" 
did he open for us to follow? 

4. How many trail makers from the Bible can 

you name ? Tell why we may think of the 
Bible as a great guidebook which we are 
to follow. 

5. Write in your note book the names of three 

Americans whom you consider worthy of 
a place among the trail makers of history. 
Write your reasons for choosing each one. 
Can you add the names of three trail mak- 
ers of Bible history? 



12 



CHAPTER II 

THE GREAT PIONEER OF THE 
MARKED TRAIL 

The camel-drivers were loading the animals 
for a long journey, and there was a great deal of 
excitement among the men as they worked. 

"I wonder what has come over our master," 
said Shelah, one of the camel-drivers. "Without 
any warning he gave the order to move, and he 
has not even told us in what direction we are to 
go. As for the end of the journey, he has made 
no mention of what that shall be." 

"Our master gives orders just as you say, She- 
lah," answered Eber, the head of the drovers, 
"but it is for you and me to obey his commands 
whatever they may be, and ask no questions. See 
that the camels upon which the master and his 
household are to ride are in good condition, and 
prepare those which are to carry the burdens for 
a long journey. Then we will be secure, for if 
our master should be going only a short distance, 
nothing would go amiss, and if the journey is to 
be a long one, we will be able to travel in the 
right way" ; and Eber turned to give directions to 
the men who were rolling the tents together. 

"But do you think it is our duty to follow 
13 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

blindly where he leads, taking our wives and lit- 
tle ones with us?" urged Shelah. "Have we not 
a right to know the reason for this sudden 
journey?" 

"As for me, I have never had cause to doubt 
our master's kindness and wisdom," replied Eber, 
"and if he does not explain, he has reasons within 
himself for his silence. Since he is to lead the 
company himself, I have no fear that anything 
will harm the mothers and the children. I shall 
follow without question." And Eber turned 
again toward the men who were tying great 
ropes around the bundles of rugs which were to 
be loaded upon the camels. 

"See that the camels have plenty of water be- 
fore we start," Eber called to the men who were 
making ready the provisions for the journey. 
"Since we do not know the way our master may 
decide to go, we cannot be sure that we will come 
upon the wells very soon, and the animals must 
not suffer from thirst." 

"I cannot understand why our master should 
care to leave this place where we are in the midst 
of plenty, and where his family is honored, and 
he himself is regarded as a chief man," grumbled 
one of the women as she gathered her belongings 
together. "Some strange influence must be 
working upon him that he should decide so sud- 
denly to leave a land so well-favored as this." 

"It is the way of the world," answered another 
who was tying sandals upon the feet of her chil- 

U 



THE GREAT PIONEER 

dren. "If it is the master who gives the word, we 
must follow and ask no questions." 

"I am not so meek as you," said the other. "I 
do not propose to go one step unless I am told all 
about — " But she suddenly stopped her threaten- 
ing speech, for looking up from her bundle, she 
saw the master's trusted nephew standing near, 
and she feared that her idle words would get her 
into trouble with the master. She listened quietly 
enough when Lot began to speak. 

"My uncle sends word," said he, speaking to 
Eber, the head of the drovers, "that we shall not 
return again to this place, nor even to this land. 
He goes to a far country of which he himself 
knows nothing, but he bids me say that he has no 
fears for our safety on the journey. He has 
received a message which assures him that all will 
be well, and he knows the message can be trusted. 
Moreover, he has received a command which he 
dares not disobey, even though he himself is a 
leader and the head of this great company. See 
that there are provisions enough for a long jour- 
ney, and take into account that there may be 
delays along the way. Let no woman or child 
be left behind. Fill all the skins with water, and 
see that the tents are in good condition. We are 
to start with to-morrow's dawn." 

Lot went back to the master's tent and the 
word was passed along among the herdsmen, 
fighting men, servants, women, and children, until 
the whole two thousand which made up the house- 

15 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

hold had been notified of the plan to start out on 
the journey to a far country in the early morning 
of the next day. 

"We will have a great adventure,' , thought the 
boys, and they even hoped that they would come 
upon wild beasts in the wilderness, for then they 
might have a chance to show how brave they really 
were, and how they could protect their younger 
brothers and sisters. 

At dawn the next morning everything was in 
readiness, and the whole company waited the 
signal to set forth into the untried country. 

At the head of the company rode the great 
leader. He had a look of confidence in his eyes 
and he sat upon his camel with such majesty that 
the people were proud to be following in his 
train. From time to time he lifted his face toward 
the heavens and his lips moved, but those who 
rode near him heard no words that he said. 

"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kin- 
dred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that 
I will show thee ; and I will make of thee a great 
nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name 
great; and be thou a blessing: and I will bless them 
that bless thee, . . • and in thee shall all the families 
of the earth be blessed." 

These words were ringing in his ears as he rode 
so confidently at the head of the company. This 
was the message in which he trusted, and this was 
the command which he dared not disobey. God 
had spoken to him, calling him out of the land in 

16 



THE GREAT PIONEER . 

which he was living, to make him a blessing to all 
the families of the earth that should come after 
him. So Abraham started out at the command 
of God to open the Marked Trail as a pioneer 
chosen by the Lord. 

At the first stop in the journey, before they 
pitched their tents or ate any food, Abraham and 
Lot worked together building a rude altar. But 
it made no difference that it was just built up of 
the materials they could find at hand. God knew 
the spirit in which the altar was built, and it 
pleased him that Abraham should do this thing. 
The reason God had called Abraham to leave his 
native land to travel into an unknown country 
was that the people in Abraham's native land were 
beginning to worship idols, and Abraham was 
chosen to prove whether he would be true to God 
in a new land. 

When Eber saw what Abraham was doing he 
said to Shelah: "I know only too well that our 
master would rather give up all his camels and 
his silks and gold and silver than to give up his 
worship of the true and living God. I wonder, 
Shelah, if that is not the reason that our master 
has left the good land from which we came?" 

Shelah bowed his head ; he was ashamed that he 
had questioned Abraham's wisdom that day 
among the camel-drivers. "If that is the reason, 
Eber," he replied, "it is well for our children that 
we have such a leader as our master. We would 
not have our children grow up to be worshipers 

17 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

of idols. I shall follow our master wherever he 
leads." 

When the altar was finished, Abraham kneeled 
before it in the presence of the entire company 
and lifted his voice to God in thankful prayer. 
No other sound was heard save the voice of the 
leader opening the Trail with prayer to God. 
The people stood with bowed heads, and the chil- 
dren kneeled by their mothers. 

They rested here a few days, for Abraham 
was a wise leader and was merciful to his faithful 
animals as well as to his people. At last they 
came to the beautiful land of Canaan. Here they 
pitched their tents near a great oak tree that 
became famous in history because Abraham 
lodged here. He set up another altar here for 
the worship of God, and one day God said to 
him, "All this land will I give to you and to your 
children after you." 

This was a second sign-post in the Trail, and 
the place was named Shechem. They stayed 
here untihthey were rested and refreshed after 
the long journey, and until even the weakest one 
was ready to go on with the caravan. 

But one evening the order came to take up the 
journey the next day. The third stop was at 
Bethel, another well-known place in the history 
of the Trail, and here again Abraham set up an 
altar for the worship of God, and it became a 
marker to travelers. 

Often at night as he walked out alone and 
18 



THE GREAT PIONEER 

looked up at the stars Abraham said over and 
over in his heart the words of the message and the 
command which had started him out on the 
untried Trail: 

"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kin- 
dred, and from thy father's house, unto the land 
that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a 
great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy 
name great; and be thou a blessing: and I will 
bless them that bless thee, . . . and in thee shall all 
the families of the earth be blessed." 

Study Topics 

1. Read the story of the beginning of Abra- 

ham's journey. 

2. Write a description of the caravan as it 

traveled on its way. 

3. Locate on the map the country where Abra- 

ham first lived. The places mentioned 
in the lesson. 

4. Find a picture of an altar like the one Abra- 

ham and Lot built. 

5. Over one hundred years ago there 7 lived in 

Scotland a boy who became one of the 
greatest pioneers of all history. He, like 
Abraham, left his native land when he be- 
came a man, and went to a country which 
was new and strange to him, in obedience 
to the voice of God. He went to a people 
who knew nothing about God to carry the 
message of the gospel. He suffered many 
19 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

hardships, but he became a discoverer and 
a great pioneer missionary. He went into 
the very heart of Africa, and lived among 
the natives, who learned to love and trust 
him. 

He spent many years in that strange 
land and his heart is buried far away in 
Africa to-day, although his body was 
brought to Westminster Abbey to be 
placed by those who have done great 
deeds for the good of mankind. 

A poem was written to his memory 
after his death, and if you can supply the 
missing word in the last line of this poem 
you will know the name of the great 
pioneer. 

"He needs no epitaph to guard a name 
Which men shall prize while worthy work is 

known; 
He lived and died for good — be that his 

fame; 
Let marble crumble: this is — — --." 




20 



CHAPTER III 
WHERE THE ROADS FORKED 

"There is not room enough for thy cattle and 
mine on this land. I got to this pasture first, and 
I must give account to my master for the condi- 
tion of his animals. He will make thee pay dearly 
for thy trespassing when it comes to his ears that 
thy cattle have been brought to this feeding- 
ground !" and Jared beat upon the ground with 
his herding rod as he tried to drive Kenan off 
the land. 

"I will not move one step," retorted Kenan, 
"for I searched all night long for a good place for 
my cattle, and when I came there were no cattle 
here. Because thy cattle fed here yesterday is 
no reason that the feeding ground belongs to 
thee. My master will hold me accountable for 
the condition of his animals, as well as thine, and 
I will not move from this place!" and Kenan's 
voice rose angrily as he spoke. 

"We shall see who has a right to this land!" 
cried Jared. "If my master, Abraham, is head 
of this tribe he shall settle whose animals shall 
feed in the good places ; and since I am his chief 
herdman it will not take him long to decide whose 
cattle shall move to another place." 

21 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

"Go to thy master, thou talebearer!" mocked 
Kenan, "and little good will it do thee if I can 
read his mind aright; for my master, Lot, will 
stand up for me, and even Abraham himself will 
not go against Lot, for he is as a son in Abra- 
ham's sight. Go to the tent of Abraham and see 
what is to be gained thereby." 

Thus did the herdmen of Abraham and Lot 
quarrel over the feeding-grounds for the cattle. 
It came to be a daily occurrence until at last news 
of the quarreling came to the ears of the leader. 
When Abraham knew the cause for the quarrel- 
ing among the herdmen he sent for Lot to come 
to his tent. 

"There are things I would say to thee, Lot, 
which are meant only for thy ears. Come with 
me to the hilltop yonder that we may talk un- 
disturbed." 

So they went to the top of the hill where they 
could look out over the whole land, and Abraham 
said: "There must never be a quarrel between 
me and thee, Lot, nor between thy herdmen and 
mine. There is no longer room enough for the 
flocks and herds of both of us to feed in this 
region. Our animals have increased until the 
land is not able to bear them all. The whole land 
lies before us here. You choose the portion which 
you desire, and I will take what is left. Then 
there will be peace in our borders, and all will 
be well." 

Lot must have been filled with amazement. 
22 



WHERE THE ROADS FORKED 

Although Abraham had been as kind to him as 
if he had been his own son and had given him the 
first cattle from which his great herd had grown, 
nevertheless Abraham was the leader and had a 
right to the whole land, and could have com- 
manded Lot's herdmen to leave the land en- 
tirely ; and here he was offering to give Lot the 
first choice of the land. No wonder Lot was 
amazed. 

As they looked over the land they saw in one 
place a great plain, watered by the Jordan River, 
so fertile that any cattle feeding upon it would 
grow more sleek and valuable each day. This 
land was as beautiful as a Garden of Eden and 
of priceless value to a master herder. 

Lot turned to Abraham and swept his hand 
over the direction of the fertile Jordan valley and 
said, "I will take the plain through which the 
Jordan flows." 

Beyond the fertile plain were the rocks and 
hills of Canaan, where the cattle would find pas- 
ture with great difficulty. This was all that 
would be left to Abraham if he stood by his bar- 
gain. Surely, the leader of the great company 
would not consider moving off to that poor place 
among the hills and giving the younger man the 
whole pleasant valley ! But Abraham's followers 
had not trusted him in vain when they set out to 
follow him into the unknown land. He was a 
man of his word ; he had meant what he said when 
he told Lot, "Is not the whole land before thee? 

23 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to 
the right ; or if thou take the right, then I will go 
to the left." 

So they separated themselves from one another. 
Abraham went off to live among the hills of Ca- 
naan, and Lot took the plain. But Lot moved 
his family into the city, while his flocks and herds 
were left in the valley pastures under the care of 
his herdmen. The city to which Lot moved with 
his family, was called Sodom, and before Lot had 
been there very long he discovered that it was a 
wicked city, where the people laughed at the laws 
of God. He was sorry about this, but he did not 
think of moving away, for he was a very rich 
man. He soon became well known in the city of 
Sodom, and the people of the town looked up to 
him. But he had made a detour in the Trail, and 
separated himself from the leader. 

Study Topics 

1. Tell the story of Abraham and Lot dividing 

the pasture land between them. 

2. Describe the way the people of Abraham's 

company secured their living. What did 
they have to eat ? In what kind of dwell- 
ings did they live ? 

3. Which do you think you would rather have 

for a neighbor, Abraham or Lot? Why? 

4. Explain what is meant in the lesson by say- 

ing that Lot "had made a detour in the 
Trail." 

24 



WHERE THE ROADS FORKED 

5. Read the Bible story of the incident of this 

lesson as told in Gen. 13. 1-12. 

6. Write in your notebook your reasons for 

preferring either Abraham or Lot as your 
neighbor. 



25 



CHAPTER IV 

FROM THE MARKED TRAIL TO THE 
DETOUR 

The tents of the herders were pitched at the 
outer edge of the camp, and among the rocks and 
rugged hills the cattle were feeding as best they 
could. The tent of the leader of the tribe was 
pitched near a great oak tree, and close by were 
the tents in which the members of his household 
lived. In plain view of all, on a little hill, was a 
pile of stones, which showed that the company 
gathered there worshiped the Lord God. This 
altar had been built by Abraham as soon as he 
took up his new land among the hills of Canaan. 

Abraham was walking alone on the crest of 
one of the ranges of hills. He may have been 
thinking about Lot and wondering how this neph- 
ew, for whom he had done so many kind serv- 
ices, could have forgotten all about the past and 
taken advantage of his kindness as he had done 
in choosing the Jordan valley for his flocks; or 
he may have been wondering why Lot had never 
come to see him, or sent any messengers to inquire 
of his welfare, since that day when their paths 
had separated. Abraham must have been feeling 
sad and disappointed. 

26 



FROM MARKED TRAIL TO DETOUR 

As he walked back and forth upon the hill 
Abraham heard a voice calling him. How glad 
he was to stop and listen, for it was the voice that 
he loved to hear. God was speaking to Abraham 
and giving him hope and cheer. God's voice said : 

"Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place 
where thou art, northward and southward and 
eastward and westward: for all the land which 
thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, 
forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust 

of the earth Arise, walk through the land 

in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for 
unto thee will I give it." 

Abraham's heart was filled with peace and joy. 
He knew that he had pleased God in giving up 
the Jordan valley, and this was worth all the rich 
pasture lands in the world to Abraham. But he 
looked out in the directions which God had com- 
manded, and he was filled with wonder at what 
God's promise to him meant. 

On the east was a range of hills and beyond 
them was a great mountain ; between the hills and 
the mountain was a deep, fertile valley; to the 
south and west were low hills, and to the north 
were broad, watered plains bordered by hills like 
walls for protection from enemies. God, the 
owner of all this land, had told Abraham to go 
out and survey it, and that some day it would all 
belong to him. 

Abraham could not understand how this would 

n 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

ever be brought about, but he trusted God as the 
One whose promises never fail, and he knew God 
would bring it to pass in his own good way. 

So Abraham went out and surveyed the land, 
and then he moved his tents to the land of Hebron 
and set up the family tents under the famous oaks 
of Mamre. 

As soon as he set up the new home, Abraham 
built an altar under one of the oaktrees, where 
the worship of God was established. 

He soon made friends of the people who lived 
in the surrounding country, and his cattle had 
rich pasturage at last. Here he lived in peace 
and plenty with his family around him, and the 
blessing of God rested upon his household. 

But one day as he sat in front of his tent, look- 
ing out over his fertile lands and watching his 
cattle peacefully browsing, he discovered a man 
in the distance running toward his tent. As he 
drew nearer Abraham saw that his clothes were 
torn and his hands were scratched and bleeding. 
Abraham rose and hastened toward him and led 
him to his tent. The man had a strange story 
to tell. 

"There has been a great battle," he said, "in 
which the king of Sodom has been defeated by a 
trick. The soldiers went out following the king 
to the war, and they went into the forest to at- 
tack the enemy. But the forest was full of slime 
pits, of which the king and his soldiers had no 
knowledge, for the enemy had covered the pit- 

28 



FROM MARKED TRAIL TO DETOUR 

falls with underbrush. So the soldiers fell into 
the slime pits and were captured by the enemy 
and the king himself was taken captive. Then 
the enemy pursued into the very city of Sodom, 
and the message that I bring for you is that Lot 
and all of his family have been carried away into 
the land of the enemy!" and the stranger sank 
exhausted at the feet of Abraham, for it had 
taken all his strength to run the long distance with 
this news. 

Abraham waited to hear no more. Lot was 
his nephew and he was in danger. Abraham for- 
got all about Lot's choice of the rich Jordan val- 
ley. He needed help, and Abraham had it to 
offer. He had three hundred and eighteen fight- 
ing men in his company, and they were strong and 
fearless and ready to move at a moment's notice. 
In a short time he was riding at the head of his 
little army on his way to rescue Lot from the 
hands of the enemy. 

It was night when they drew near the city in 
which Lot was held captive, and this suited Abra- 
ham exactly. He planned a surprise attack that 
would be as effective if it worked as the trick of 
the enemy among the slime pits of the forest near 
Sodom. 

He divided the men into different bands, put- 
ting them at such places around the walls of the 
city as would make every stroke count for vic- 
tory, for he had the enemy walled in, and they 
could not attack in all these directions at once. 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

When Abraham gave the signal to attack and the 
men all charged at once, the enemy saw with 
alarm that they were attacked on all sides at the 
same moment and they thought a great army was 
surrounding their city. They began to flee 
through the one way that was open to them, and 
Abraham's soldiers started in hot pursuit, but the 
enemy continued to flee and the city was deserted 
save for the captives who were imprisoned there. 

Then Abraham entered the city and searched 
until he found Lot and every member of his 
family. He first set them free and then he re- 
leased all the other captives. 

In the meantime some of the soldiers of the 
king of Sodom who had been left by the enemy 
to die in the slime pits had succeeded in strug- 
gling out, and hunting through the forest for 
their comrades who might still be alive, they came 
upon the king himself, ready to die with exhaus- 
tion. They rescued him and brought him back 
to the city, but they found it pillaged and de- 
serted. Then the king knew that all of his sub- 
jects had been carried away eaptive and he had 
not enough fighting men to try to rescue them. 

One day one of his faithful soldiers came run- 
ning to him with the news that a strange-looking 
company was approaching the city. The king 
came out to see, and there he beheld a sight that 
filled his heart with rejoicing. There were all 
his subjects, footsore and weary, it is true, but 
alive and well, and at the head of the company 

30 



FROM MARKED TRAIL TO DETOUR 

rode their rescuer, Abraham, with Lot by his side. 
Moreover, they were bringing back all the booty 
which the enemy had seized when they entered 
Sodom. 

The king bowed low before Abraham to do him 
honor, and said: "I am so grateful for the return 
of my people, that I will not take the booty. Let 
me beg that it shall be yours in return for all your 
kindness." 

But Abraham answered: "I will not touch even 
a thread or a shoe latchet as reward for my serv- 
ices. I went not to the battle for riches or for 
rewards. I went out to the help of the helpless, 
and to the rescue of those whom I loved. I have 
brought them back safe and I am satisfied." 

So Abraham and his soldiers returned to the 
land of Hebron, to their tents and their flocks, 
and Abraham went first to the altar where he 
thanked God for the victory ; then he returned to 
his own tent under the oaks of Mamre. 

Study Topics 

1. Read the Bible story of the attack on Sodom 

and Abraham's rescue of Lot found in 
Gen. 18. 20-33; 19. 1-29. 

2. Tell how God rewarded Abraham for hav- 

ing been unselfish in allowing Lot to have 
the best of the land. 

3. Tell the plan by which Abraham won in his 

attack on the enemy. 

4. What do you think about Abraham's re- 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

fusal to accept the spoils taken from the 
enemy? 

5. Some things which Abraham saw and which 

we may see now (commit to memory) : 

"The heavens declare the glory of God; 
And the firmament showeth his handi- 
work. 
Day unto day uttereth speech, 
And night unto night showeth knowledge. 

There is no speech nor language ; 
Their voice is not heard. 

Their line is gone out through all the 

earth, 
And their words to the end of the world. 
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the 

sun." 

6. A prayer for each one of us : 

"Let the words of my mouth and the medi- 
tation of my heart, be acceptable in 
thy sight, 
O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer." 

7. Study this prayer verse until you can write 

it perfectly in your notebook. Then try 
to write a prayer in your own words that 
means the same desire as that in the words 
of the psalmist. 



32 



CHAPTER V 
A PROMISE AND A WARNING 

Abraham sat in the door of his tent under the 
oaks of Mamre, as he did on the day that he re- 
ceived the news which took him forth to battle to 
rescue Lot from the enemy who had carried him 
away captive. It was noonday and the sun was 
burning hot, but Abraham was thinking as stead- 
ily as he did when he walked up and down under 
the quiet stars at night. He was communing 
with God, and Abraham needed no special time 
nor particular place to think about his affairs 
before God, for he was called the "Friend of 
God," and that he truly was. 

Perhaps Abraham was thinking that day of a 
promise which God had made to him and won- 
dering when it would ever come true. This was 
the promise, that some day there should be a son 
born in his household who should be the comfort 
and joy of his heart and who should carry the 
family name on through generation after gen- 
eration. He had waited a long time for the prom- 
ise to be fulfilled, but he knew it would come to 
pass in time, for God had made the promise, and 
Abraham had never known God's promises 
to fail. 

as 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Perhaps he was thinking about his nephew, 
Lot, over in the city of Sodom, to which he had 
carried him safely after the great adventure of 
rescuing him from the enemy. Abraham had 
always been sorry that Lot had moved his fam- 
ily from the country, where the flocks and herds 
were, into the city of Sodom, for the wickedness 
in the city of Sodom was known throughout the 
whole country, and Abraham feared that Lot 
and his children would become like the people 
among whom they lived every day. 

Abraham loved God, and the strongest desire 
of his heart was to serve God in the right way, 
and he longed for his family and kinsmen to 
serve God also. He was loyal and true as the 
friend of God. 

Whatever he was thinking about on this bright, 
hot noonday, he was so lost in thought that he 
did not look up to notice anything. 

Suddenly he became aware that three strangers 
were approaching his tent, and they were almost 
upon him before he could rise to greet them. He 
sprang to his feet and bowed low before them 
and with true hospitality invited them to stop 
and visit him. 

"Pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 
let now a little water be fetched, and wash your 
feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: and I 
will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort ye your 
heart," was the way he invited them to be his 
guests for the noonday meal. 

34 



A PROMISE AND A WARNING 

So the three strangers came near and sat down 
under the shade of the wonderful oaks of Mamre, 
while Abraham went out to give directions for 
their entertainment. 

He went to the tent where Sarah was and 
said, "Make ready quickly three measures of 
fine meal, knead it and make cakes." And Sarah 
at once set to work to carry out his wishes, for 
she was as hospitable as her husband. It was the 
very best meal she had in the tent, but that was 
the way she liked to show her guests that they 
were welcome. 

Then Abraham went out to the herd and 
selected the tenderest meat he could find and 
gave orders that it should be prepared quickly 
for the unexpected guests. 

The servant cooked the meat after his best 
fashion, and when it was ready to serve, poured 
milk and butter over it in abundance. 

When the meal was ready the servants brought 
it out to the guests under the oak trees in the 
shade, and Abraham stood by as they ate, ac- 
cording to the courtesy of that land. 

When the strangers had refreshed themselves 
with the savory food, one of them told Abraham 
the best news that had ever come to his ears 
since the day that he left Ur of the Chaldees to 
go out into a land he knew not of in obedience 
to the voice of God in his heart. The message 
was that at last the glad promise was to come 
true, and that before another year rolled around 

35 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

a son should be born who should carry the fam- 
ily name down to generation after generation, 
and who should be the joy and comfort of his 
heart. At last the word of God to Abraham was 
to be fulfilled, when he had promised: 

"Behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt 
be the father of a multitude of nations .... And I 
will establish my covenant between me and thee and 
thy seed after thee throughout their generations for 
an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and 
to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, 
and to thy seed after thee, the land of their sojourn- 
ings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting pos- 
session; and I will be their God." 

Abraham's heart was filled with wonder and 
joy, for now he knew that he was entertaining 
heavenly visitors in his home and that the mes- 
sage was truly from God, but Abraham did not 
know how great one of his visitors really was. 
This was one of the happiest moments of Abra- 
ham's whole life. 

When the glad message had been delivered, 
the heavenly visitors rose to leave, and they told 
Abraham that they were going in the direction 
of Sodom. Not forgetful of the hospitality of 
his country, Abraham, as their host, offered to 
go part of the way with them in order that they 
might be sure to take the right road. 

When the time came for him to turn back, 
before he left his guests, one of them spoke to 
him thus, "Shall I hide from Abraham that which 

36 



A PROMISE AND A WARNING 

I do? . . . For I have known him, . . . that he may 
command ... his household after him, that they 
may keep the way of the Lord." 

Suddenly Abraham realized that one of the 
heavenly visitors was God. 

Then God told Abraham that he was sending 
the two angels who were with him on to Sodom 
and Gomorrah, to see for themselves if the great 
wickedness in the cities was true, and, moreover, 
God told him that if the cities were altogether 
wicked, they would have to be wiped out. 

At this the two angels left and went on toward 
Sodom, but God remained with Abraham. How 
Abraham pleaded with God for the city of 
Sodom! Although Lot had not always done as 
Abraham might have wished him to do, neverthe- 
less, he was his kinsman, and Abraham loved him 
dearly. So Abraham asked God if there were 
fifty righteous men to be found in the city if he 
would spare Sodom; and God said he would. 
Then Abraham began to be afraid that there 
might not be fifty righteous men in the whole 
big city, and he gradually came down in num- 
bers until God had promised him if ten righteous 
men could be found there the cities would be 
spared. 

Not once did Abraham mention Lot's name, 
but God knew what was in Abraham's heart, 
and he loved him all the more for being loyal to 
his nephew who had not been loyal to him at 
all times. 

37 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Then God vanished from Abraham's earthly 
sight, but the memory of the heavenly visit never 
vanished from Abraham's heart in the years 
to come. 

Meanwhile the two angels went on their way 
to Sodom and Gomorrah, and there they found 
the wickedness so great that not even ten right- 
eous men could be found among all the inhabi- 
tants. So the cities were to be wiped out of 
existence. But the angels went to Lot's door 
and warned him of what was coming to pass, and 
gave him the chance to escape with all his family. 

Abraham went back to his tent after he had 
talked with God. But even though there was 
joy in his heart over the glad message which had 
come to his own home, he could not be happy 
while he thought of Lot down in the city of 
Sodom in such danger. He must have spent 
much of that night in prayer. 

Early the next morning Abraham rose from 
his tent in Hebron and went out to look toward 
Sodom, over in the west. All he could see of 
what had been a great and wealthy city was a 
pile of smoldering ashes, from which smoke 
ascended. 

But over in a little city in the foothills of the 
mountains, called Zoar, Lot and his daughters 
were safe and well, for, "God remembered Abra- 
ham and sent Lot out of the midst of the over- 
throw when he overthrew the cities in the which 
Lot dwelt." 

88 



A PROMISE AND A WARNING 

Study Topics 

God still sends messengers of warn- 
ing to his people as he sent the messengers 
to warn Lot. These messengers take 
many different forms and give us their 
messages in many different ways. 

1. Perhaps as you start out to school in the 

morning you see flying at the top of a 
flagpole a little square, white flag. This 
flag says, "To-day the weather will be 
fair"; if the flag is blue, the message is, 
"General rain or snow" ; if it is white with 
a black center, it says, "A cold wave is 
coming." 

These flags and several others are used 
by the Weather Bureau of the United 
States to give us forecasts of the weather 
so that we may arrange our plans. But 
before the Weather Bureau can make the 
forecast about what weather is coming, 
many observers from various parts of the 
country have read the warnings which 
God has sent in the clouds, the winds, and 
the temperature of the air. 

2. Does God send us warnings about other 

things, as, for example, our health? Have 
you ever had a warning that a cold was 
coming on? That certain foods would 
make you ill? That your eyes were being 
injured? Are not such warnings part of 
God's plan? Did you obey the warnings? 
39 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

3. God gives us warning through our con- 

science. When you have been tempted to 
do wrong have you felt something telling 
you not to do the wrong act? Have you 
ever felt your conscience accusing you 
and making you unhappy after you have 
done wrong? 

4. Do you think God gives nations warning 

when they are becoming wicked and for- 
getting to follow the Trail? Can you 
think of any way in which God does warn 
nations ? 

5. A verse of Scripture to think over just now; 

"For we are God's fellow workers; ye are God's 
husbandry, God's building" (i Cor. 3. 9). 



40 



CHAPTER VI 
A SUCCESSFUL SEARCH 

The leader gave the command and the tired 
camels sank upon their knees near the well of 
water outside the city gates. It was evening at 
the hour when the women of that region, accord- 
ing to the custom, went out to draw water for 
the household. The leader of the caravan knew 
of this custom, and it was for this very reason 
that he had commanded the camels to kneel at 
that hour. The burdens on the camels' backs 
were beautiful silks, costly cloth and embroid- 
eries, and much silver and gold. Surely, the 
owner of this train was a rich and powerful man ! 

This was true indeed, for the owner of this 
caravan's wealth was none other than Abraham, 
the great Pioneer of the Trail. Abraham him- 
self was not with this company, but had sent his 
trusted servant on this very important journey, 
carrying the rich treasure as a present to some one 
whom he had never seen. 

As the camels kneeled by the well the driver 
of the caravan lifted his face to heaven and prayed 
a strange prayer. As he finished his prayer he 
looked toward the city and saw a beautiful com- 
pany coming down to the well to draw water. 
These were the women of that place, who came 

41 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

every evening to the well. One especially beauti- 
ful maiden came out from among the rest with 
her pitcher on her shoulder. 

The stranger ran forward to meet her as she 
drew the pitcher dripping with the cool water 
from the well and cried, "Pray, give me some 
water to drink ¥ 

At once she took the pitcher down from her 
shoulder and held it to his lips, and when he had 
quenched his thirst she said, "I will draw water 
for thy camels also, for they must be thirsty even 
as thou." 

So she emptied the water that was left in her 
pitcher into the drinking trough and ran back to 
the well and refilled her pitcher and kept this 
up until the camels had all been watered. 

The whole time she was doing this, the stranger 
was watching every movement she made, and 
when she had finished he came forward and bowed 
low to the ground and offered her a beautiful 
present which he had taken from the bundle on 
the back of one of the camels. This present was 
a golden ring, very heavy, and two wonderful 
bracelets. 

Then he said, "Tell me, I pray thee, to what 
family dost thou belong, and if there is room in 
thy father's house for a stranger to spend the 
night as he pauses in his journey?" 

"My father's name," she answered, "is Bethuel, 
and there is room and to spare for thee and for 
thy camels as well." 




Copyright. 1909, by Harold Copi 



REBEKAH AT THE WELL 



A SUCCESSFUL SEARCH 

When the stranger heard these words he lifted 
his eyes to the heavens and gave thanks to God. 
He said aloud, "The Lord in his goodness has led 
me to the very household that my master desired 
me to find." 

The beautiful maiden ran home before him and 
told her mother all that had happened and showed 
the ring and the bracelets which the stranger had 
given her in return for watering his camels. 

Then her brother Laban went out by the foun- 
tain of water to find the stranger and bid him 
welcome to their home. The stranger gladly re- 
turned with him, and when they had made the 
camels comfortable for the night they made ready 
for the evening meal. 

When they were gathered at the table, the 
stranger said, "I will not eat until I have told 
who I am and why I am here." 

"Tell us," they said. "We would like to hear 
all about it." 

"I am a servant of a great man," he said, "the 
great and rich Abraham, the leader of his people 
and the friend of God. He has silver and gold, 
and flocks and herds, and manservants and maid- 
servants. He has camels without number, and all 
the people in our land look up to him and obey 
his word. But he has only one son, even Isaac, 
whom he loves more than his own life. Because 
of the love that he feels for Isaac he would choose 
for him a wife from among this people, for these 
are people of his own kindred. 



FOLLOWERS OP THE MARKED TRAIL 

"Therefore he has sent me to choose out from 
among the people one who is beautiful and kind, 
to be the wife of his beloved son, Isaac. When he 
sent me forth upon this errand I was afraid, lest 
if I should find one beautiful enough she would 
refuse to return with me to my master's house. 
But my master is a man of faith and he said to 
me, 'The Lord, before whom I walk, will send 
his angel with thee, and prosper thy way,' and 
I was no longer afraid but came at his bidding. 
As I waited by the fountain this evening I 
prayed to the Lord God, saying : 

" *0 Lord the God of my master Abraham, if now 
thou do prosper my way which I go: behold, I 
stand by the fountain of water; and let it come 
to pass, that the maiden which cometh forth to 
draw, to whom I shall say, Give me, I pray thee, 
a little water of thy pitcher to drink; and she shall 
say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw 
water for thy camels: let the. same be the woman 
whom the Lord hath appointed for my master's 



"Almost before I had finished my prayer, this 
beautiful maiden came down to the fountain and 
I asked her for a drink. She gave it to me at once 
and then said she would water the camels as well. 
When I asked her to what family she belonged 
behold she told me it was the very family which 
my master, Abraham, had chosen as the one from 
which he desired the wife of his son to come. 

44 






A SUCCESSFUL SEARCH 

Then, indeed, did I know that the Lord God had 
prospered my way and had sent his angel before 
my face to help me in my search. And now I 
beg to know what the answer shall be — will the 
beautiful maiden return with me to my master's 
house to make his heart glad for his son Isaac's 
sake?" 

And they made answer: "Let the maiden speak 
for herself. This matter is ordered of the Lord 
God, and we will not stand in the way of it com- 
ing to pass as he wills." 

Then the servant brought out all the rich pres- 
ents which Abraham had sent, presents for the 
maiden and for her mother, and spread them be- 
fore the family, and their hearts were touched 
that Abraham should have desired so much to 
win their good will. 

The beautiful maiden said she would go, and 
although she was the sunshine of their home they 
said no word to keep her from going with Abra- 
ham's servant, but gave her rich clothing and 
maidservants of her own to go along with her. 

So the next morning early the caravan started 
back to the home of Abraham, and the beautiful 
maiden rode by the side of her old nurse, who had 
cared for her when she was a child, and who went 
with her to her new home. 

Late in the evening Isaac was out in the field 
alone thinking. He had been lonely since his 
mother had died, and he may have been feeling 
sad and lonely then. Suddenly he saw the car- 

45' 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

avan returning, and as he looked, a maiden got 
down from her camel and walked toward him 
with her veil over her face. Isaac went quickly 
forth to meet her and held out his hands to her 
and she came to the tent with him. 

He took her to the tent in which his mother had 
lived and the beautiful maiden came in and made 
her home there. 

Thus did Rebekah come to be the wife of Isaac, 
and she comforted him for his mother's death, and 
brought sunshine and joy to Abraham and Isaac. 

Study Topics 

1. What teaching of Jesus, given many years 

later, was Rebekah following in her kind- 
ness to the stranger at the well? 

2. Prepare to tell the story of the lesson in your 

own words. 

3. The Bible account of this incident is found 

in Gen. 24. 1-67. 

4. Describe the kind of home in which Rebekah 

lived. Find, if possible, a picture of a car- 
avan such as that which carried Rebekah 
to her new home. (Read Crosby, Geog- 
raphy of Bible Lands, Chapter 24.) 

5. Imagine yourself either Rebekah or Isaac 

or the faithful messenger in this story. 
Write what you would have done that day. 



46 



CHAPTER VII 
A STRANGE BARGAIN 

Jacob sat by the gate and waited for Esau to 
come in from the hunt. Near him was a fire 
which he had built of wood gathered from the 
ground, and over the fire a pot of soup was sim- 
mering. He had been waiting patiently for a 
long time, for Esau was later than usual coming 
home that day. Jacob wanted to drive a bargain 
with Esau, his brother, when he did come, and 
it was for this reason that he had cooked the soup 
out of doors. He wanted to catch Esau before 
he got to the house, for he intended that the bar- 
gain should be a secret between them. Esau 
was entitled to something which Jacob had 
wanted ever since he had been old enough to 
know what it was worth, but this was the first time 
he had dared to plan to get it. For years he had 
been studying Esau's habits and tastes, to find 
out how to get on the weak side of him in order to 
get the thing he wanted from him, and he had 
found the way at last. 

Esau was rough and ready, and liked to hunt 
in the fields and woods, bringing home fine game 
at the end of his day's sport. He never cared to 
stay around the house, and was not much of a help 
to his mother, but his father was always delighted 

47 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

with the fine venison which Esau brought in from 
the hunt for him, and Esau was his favorite son. 

Jacob had learned while they were growing 
up together that Esau was hot-tempered and im- 
pulsive, and that he spoke before he stopped to 
think and that he acted quickly, and was often 
sorry for it afterward. He liked good things to 
estt and was ready to trade things for food which 
pleased him. 

Jacob kept all these things in his mind, for 
some day he meant to try Esau to find out if he 
could trade him out of the thing which he so ear- 
nestly desired. 

Esau was the elder son, and for this reason he 
was entitled to the larger share of his father's 
wealth, to his father's special blessing, and to the 
right to become the head of the family at his 
father's death, which was equal to being the 
priest of the household. 

There was one of these privileges which Jacob 
coveted so much that he longed to have it even 
if his brother had to give it up. This was the 
right to be the head of the family. He really 
thought he was better fitted for this position of 
trust than his brother was, for he had studied the 
family history and he kept up with the family 
customs and he loved form and ceremony, while 
his brother liked to hunt and to fish, and to stay 
out of doors most of the time. Jacob had suc- 
ceeded in persuading himself that the family dig- 
nity and honor would suffer if his brother became 

48 



A STRANGE BARGAIN 

the priest of the household. Then, too, he thought 
his brother did not really care so" much about it 
and that he would not grieve very much if he had 
to give it up. But Jacob was afraid to come right 
out and ask his brother to enter into a scheme to 
try to deceive their father and change the family 
blessing to his own head. So he had thought out 
this plan for getting the birthright from his 
brother, and he sat by the road waiting for him 
to come home from the hunt. He knew Esau 
would be hungry and tired, and he also knew how 
eager he was about good food; so from time to 
time he stirred the soup and left the top off the 
pot so the delicious smell of the soup might be 
wafted through the air. This would be sure to 
tempt Esau, and it would be easier to trade with 
him. 

After so long a time he saw Esau coming, and 
the very thing happened for which he had planned 
so carefully. Esau smelled the soup, and as soon 
as he came within hearing he called out to Jacob, 
"Give me some of that fine soup, I pray you, for 
I am faint with hunger." 

And Jacob answered: "I will not give it to 
you, but I will trade it for something you have. 
Exchange your birthright for this soup, and I 
will add bread for you to eat with it." 

"Well, I am hungry enough to die, anyhow," 
said Esau, "and if I were dead I would have no 
use for the birthright, so we will trade." 

But Jacob wanted to make sure that the birth- 
49 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

right would be his, so he persisted, "Will you give 
me your solemn word that this is a bargain?" 

And Esau answered, "By my solemn word, it 
is a bargain." 

Then Jacob poured out a bowlful of the steam- 
ing soup and gave bread to eat with it, and Esau 
ate until he was satisfied, and then he went on into 
the house to see his father, but he was careful not 
to tell his father what he had done, for he was 
not proud of it. 

But Jacob went straight to his mother and told 
her the whole story. He knew he could trust her 
to keep the secret, and he did not feel very proud 
of himself just then. 

These two brothers were the sons of Isaac and 
the beautiful Rebekah, who had lived faithfully 
together since that day when she had come home 
to his tent, with the man whom Abraham had sent 
out to find a wife for his beloved son, to be a com- 
fort and joy in their home. 

These two sons had been born in their home, 
and they had been greatly beloved by their par- 
ents, for while Isaac loved Esau for his thought- 
fulness of him when he went out to hunt, Rebekah 
loved Jacob for staying at home with her and 
helping 'her in many ways. The two boys were 
not at all alike, but each had his place in the 
affections of the parents. 

Study Topics 

1. Read the story told in the Bible about Esau 
50 



A STRANGE BARGAIN 

selling his birthright to Jacob, Gen. 
27. 1-46. 

2. Describe Jacob. Describe Esau. What 

family relationship did they bear to 
Abraham? 

3. What was it Jacob so much wanted to get 

from Esau ? Tell how he planned to trade 
him out of it. 

4. What do you think of Esau's being willing 

to sell his birthright for something he liked 
to eat? 

5. Do people in these times ever sell their birth- 

right of health by indulgence in food or 
drink? 

6. Do boys ever sell their birthright of success 

for the pleasure of smoking cigarettes? 

7. Put in your notebook three good rules which 

you would observe in trying to keep your 
body strong and healthy. 



51 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE RESULT OF THE BARGAIN 

Rebekah kept Jacob's secret about the trad- 
ing of the soup for the birthright locked safely 
in her heart, but from the day when Jacob first 
told her about it she desired for him the precious 
thing which went with the birthright, and that 
was the father's blessing, which was always given 
to the eldest son. She did not know how this 
was to be brought about, but it was in her mind 
night and day. 

So the years passed, and as Isaac grew older 
he became blind, and had to depend upon his fam- 
ily for many things which he had been able to do 
for himself in other years. When Esau went out 
to the hunt in these days he went far and wide to 
find the best and tenderest meat that he could for 
his dear father. Then when he came home he 
would dress the meat and prepare it himself in 
just the way that his father liked to have it, and 
this thoughtful kindness made Isaac love him 
more than ever. 

At last the time came when Isaac felt that he 
had not much longer to live on 'the earth, so he 
began to plan for the future of his sons. 

He called Esau to him one day and said: "My 
son, I have not much longer to live. Go out in 

52 



RESULT OF THE BARGAIN 

the field and bring me some of the savory venison 
to strengthen me, and then I will pronounce the 
blessing of the eldest son upon you, before I leave 
this earth." 

So Esau took his bow and arrows and went out 
into the fields to hunt game for his father. He 
had no sooner left the house than Rebekah, eager 
to obtain the blessing for Jacob, began to plan 
how she might bring this about. She went to 
Jacob and said: "Now we must get the blessing 
for you. I will prepare savory meat and you 
must take it in to your father, and you will receive 
the blessing which he intends to bestow upon 
Esau." 

But Jacob said: "My father will not be de- 
ceived. He knows that Esau's flesh is covered 
with hair, for he is a hairy man, and when he 
reaches out his hands to bless me he will know by 
the touch that I am not my brother." 

But Rebekah was ready with a plan to meet 
this also, and she answered, "I will arrange for 
that also. I will bind the skin of a young goat 
on your hands and arms and neck, and when your 
father reaches out to touch you he will feel this 
and think it is Esau's flesh that he feels. Then 
he will surely pronounce the blessing upon you." 

But Jacob was really afraid to undertake it, 
although his mother had planned it so carefully, 
and he told her so. 

Then Rebekah said, "If anyone must be 
blamed, I will take all the blame myself." 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

So they worked together quickly, and when 
everything was ready Jacob went in to his father 
carrying the savory meat which his mother had 
prepared. As he entered the room he said, "My 
father." 

And his father asked, "Who 4 is this?" 

And Jacob answered, "I am thy son, Esau. 
Eat some of this savory meat which I have 
brought, and then bless me." 

But his father asked, "How did you get back 
from the field so soon, and get the meat pre- 
pared?" 

And Jacob made answer, "God gave me good 
speed." 

Then his father said, "Come near, that I may 
feel your flesh, for it seems that this is not Esau, 
my son." 

So Jacob came near and knelt by his father, 
and Isaac ran his hands over the goat's hair that 
covered his son. 

Then he said, "The voice is like the voice of 
Jacob, but the skin is surely that of Esau." 

Isaac then ate the savory venison, and when he 
had finished he said, "Come near, and kiss me, 
my son." And Jacob obeyed. 

Then Isaac said : 

"God give thee of the dew of heaven, 
And of the fatness of the earth, 
And plenty of corn and wine : 
Let people serve thee, 
And nations bow down to thee : 
54 



RESULT OF THE BARGAIN 

Be lord over thy brethren, 

And let thy mother's son bow down to 

thee: 
Cursed be every one that curseth thee, 
And blessed be every one that blesseth 

thee." 

Then Jacob rose and went out of the room, 
having received the blessing of the eldest son, 
which, once being given, could never be taken 
back. 

Scarcely had Jacob left the presence of his 
father when Esau came home from the hunt, bring- 
ing rich venison for his father, whom he loved so 
dearly. When he had prepared it he brought it 
in and offered it to Isaac, saying, "Eat of this 
venison, my father, and then bless me!" 

And his father cried out, "Who is this?" 

And Esau answered, "I am Esau, thy first- 
born son." 

Then Isaac trembled and feebly cried: "Who, 
then, have I already blessed with the blessing of 
the first-born? Who brought me savory meat 
and took away with him the blessing which be- 
longeth to thee alone?" 

Then Esau's heart was hot within him, and he 
fell down on his knees beside his father and 
begged and begged for the blessing for himself. 
But the real blessing had been given to Jacob 
and could not be taken back, and all that Isaac 
could say for him was this : 

55 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

"Behold of the fatness of the earth shall be 

thy dwelling, 
And of the dew of heaven from above; 
And by thy sword shalt thou live, and thou 

shalt serve thy brother; 
And it shall come to pass when thou shalt 

break loose, 
That thou shalt shake his yoke from off 

thy neck." 

But Esau rose and left his father's presence 
with his heart filled with hatred toward his brother 
Jacob. For the sake of his father's last days he 
would not do anything that would make him un- 
happy, but he said, openly, "When the days of 
mourning for my father are over, then will I 
kill my brother Jacob." 

Rebekah and Jacob had not realized how much 
the father's blessing really meant to Esau. They 
thought he was a careless fellow, fond of hunt- 
ing, to whom blessings and family customs made 
no difference, but they were greatly mistaken. 
Esau had loved his father too deeply not to de- 
sire his parting blessing, and the anger that con- 
sumed him when he found himself tricked was 
terrible to see. He never stopped to think that 
they had a reason for supposing that he did not 
care for the blessing, since he had bartered the 
birthright for a bowl of soup. 

Soon after this Isaac died and the family 
mourned for him many days with the ceremonies 
that were customary at that time. 

56 



RESULT OF THE BARGAIN 

When Rebekah heard that Esau was threaten- 
ing to kill Jacob as soon as the days of mourn- 
ing were ended, she began to plan for some way 
to protect Jacob from the wrath of his brother. 
She had seen Esau fly into rages before, but he 
always got over them quickly, and she thought 
he would get over this trouble in a little while. 
So she arranged to send Jacob to the home of her 
brother Laban in the land of Haran, and she said 
to him: 

"Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and 
arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran; 
and tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's 
fury turn away; . . . and he forget that which thou 
hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee 
from thence." 

So Jacob made haste and slipped away from 
the house by night to go off to his Uncle Laban's 
home, to stay until his mother should send him 
word that Esau's wrath had cooled. 

But he waited in vain, for the message never 
came. Jacob never saw his beautiful mother 
again, for she died while he was in the strange 
land, and he did not dare to return even then. 

So Jacob lived on in the land of Haran. 

Study Topics 

1. The Bible story of how Jacob tricked Esau 
out of his father's blessing is found in Gen. 
27. 1-35. Read it. 
57 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

2. Why was Jacob so anxious to have his 

father's blessing? (Find out what a He- 
brew father's blessing meant to a son.) 

3. Describe the trick by which Jacob and his 

mother cheated Esau out of his blessing. 
What do you think of such a trick? Do 
you think that Esau's willingness to trade 
his birthright for a bowl of soup made his 
mother and brother think he would not 
greatly prize the blessing? 

4. What did the blessing ask for Jacob? Could 

a blessing once given be taken back? 

5. What was Jacob obliged to do in order to 

escape Esau's wrath? Do you think it 
really paid Jacob to secure his father's 
blessing by deceit? 

6. We now have laws which punish anyone 

who "obtains money under false pre- 
tenses." What would have happened to 
Jacob had such a law been in effect in his 
land? 



58 



CHAPTER IX 
AFTER MANY YEARS 

What a wonderful company it was! Flocks 
and herds, oxen and mules, camels laden with 
rich treasure, maidservants, menservants, drovers, 
herders, women, and children — and moving in 
and out among them the leader of the whole 
caravan. 

. This leader was dividing the people, the flocks 
and the herds into two great companies. Evi- 
dently he was preparing for an attack by an 
enemy, and as he planned he said to himself, "If 
one company should be attacked and captured, 
then we have the other to fall back upon. I 
must protect the women and the children," and 
he looked anxiously toward the rear of the 
train, where his own beloved wife and children 
were. 

Then he lifted his eyes to heaven and prayed 
aloud: "O God of my father Abraham, and God 
of my father Isaac, O Lord, which said unto me, 
'Return to thy country, and to thy kindred, and I 
will do thee good' : I am not worthy of the least 
of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou 
hast showed unto me, for I went out from this 
country with a staff only, and I am returning 

59 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

with this great company: Deliver me, I pray, 
from the hand of this man, for I fear him lest 
he come and smite me and my children and their 
mother. Thou hast promised to do me good; 
deliver me from harm, I pray thee." 

It was Jacob who prayed this prayer, and who 
called upon the God of his fathers, for he was in 
trouble. 

Many years had passed since that wretched 
night when Jacob had fled from his father's house 
for fear of the wrath of Esau, his brother, to 
whom he had done such a great wrong. His beau- 
tiful mother, Rebekah, had died many years ago, 
and he had not dared to return then. 

He had gone to his Uncle Laban as she had 
directed him to do, but he had not found all the 
kindness that his mother had expected would be 
showed to him. He had worked for his uncle, 
and as the years went by he had learned to his 
sorrow that his uncle was shrewder than he, and 
that he was not always fair in his bargains. So 
Jacob had not had an easy life away from home. 
Many a time he had been homesick and his heart 
had ached with the longing to see his mother 
whom he loved so tenderly; but there was noth- 
ing for him but to remain with his Uncle Laban 
and take what was coming to him. But in spite of 
hardships and unfair treatment he had found 
much joy ; for after being cruelly tricked he finally 
won for his wife the beautiful woman of his 
choice, and he grew rich and powerful. 

60 




Couyriglit. 11109. b) Harold Coj 



JACOB MEETING ESAU 



AFTER MANY YEARS 

Nevertheless, he never ceased to long for his 
native land and for his childhood home. Many 
times he was sorry in his heart for the wrong 
which he had done his brother, and he desired 
above everything else to be forgiven. 

At last when he was having a very hard time 
in his uncle's house, the voice of God spoke to his 
heart and said, "Arise, go back to thy native land 
and I will be with thee and do thee good." 

It was in obedience to this voice of God in his 
heart that Jacob was to-day by the brook Jabbok 
on his way back home. To-morrow he would 
come into his brother's land, and since he had 
never received any message of forgiveness, he 
was preparing for the battle which he was sure 
would have to take place when his brother found 
out that he was there. 

He had sent messengers over the brook to tell 
his brother that he was coming, and they had re- 
turned with the news that his brother was ad- 
vancing in his direction with a large company of 
men. So Jacob was preparing his two companies 
for the attack of the morning. 

When night came he took his family across the 
brook and then returned to the other side, to be 
alone with God. All night long he prayed with 
all the strength of his soul to be forgiven for the 
sins of his life, and God heard his prayer and 
gave him a new name, which meant that his 
prayers had been heard, and that God had for- 
given him. 

61 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Early in the morning Jacob saw Esau coming 
toward the company with a following of four 
hundred men. He had already arranged his own 
people so that the weaker ones would be pro- 
tected, and the stronger ones would be in the 
front lines. Then with the spirit of a true leader, 
Jacob went forth to meet Esau alone, to learn the 
terms of the battle. 

As he approached Esau he bowed himself to 
the ground seven times in token of respect, and 
when he lifted his eyes he saw that Esau was run- 
ning toward him with his arms outstretched. 
Esau threw his arms around Jacob and kissed 
him. In that moment the quarrel was forgotten, 
the wrong was forgiven, and Jacob and Esau 
were more truly brothers than they had ever been 
before. Jacob went home with Esau, the great 
company following, and took up his abode in the 
land of his fathers. 

Thus did Jacob, after many weary years in a 
strange land, return to the way of The Marked 
Trail. 

Study Topics 

Nearly one hundred years ago, a poem 
was published in England which was des- 
tined to become one of the greatest hymns 
of the world. The author of this poem 
was Mrs. Sarah Flower Adams, who 
wrote many other poems as well, but who 
has become known to almost every civi- 



AFTER MANY YEARS 

lized country since then through this 
poem, which was her masterpiece. If 
Sarah Flower Adams had not studied the 
life of the man about whom you have read 
in the preceding chapter of this book, she 
would not have known the story which 
made her able to do this splendid work. 
It was because she was thinking of what 
Jacob might have felt as he was alone in 
the night that she wrote this poem. 

It was not the proud Jacob who went 
out from home with his brother's blessing 
who had the thoughts which the poem tells 
about, but the penitent Jacob who came 
back after years of struggle, the Jacob 
who wanted above everything else to be 
forgiven. 

The music to the poem which made it 
into a great hymn was composed by Dr. 
Lowell Mason, a distinguished American, 
whose music is known and loved around 
the world. 

It was twenty years after the words 
were written before this music was com- 
posed, but ever since then it has been sung 
and enjoyed everywhere, and was the fa- 
vorite hymn of President William McKin- 
ley, who died in 1901 from an assassin's 
shot. The first lines of this hymn were 
the last words of the martyred President, 
The first verse is: 
63 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

"Nearer, my God, to thee, 
Nearer to thee; 
E'en though it be a cross 

That raiseth me; 
Still all my song shall be, 
Nearer, my God, to thee, 
Nearer to thee!" 

1. Try to find this hymn in your church 

hymnal, and after you have read it all 
turn to the book of Genesis in your Bible 
and read Chapter 28, verses 10 through 22. 

2. Can you tell why the hymn is based on the 

story of Jacob's experience? 

3. Copy the entire hymn in your notebook. 



64 



CHAPTER X 

A BOY WHO HAD EVERYTHING 
HE WANTED 

Once upon a time there was a boy who had 
everything he wanted, and who got almost every- 
thing that he asked for. His father gave him 
all that he could to make him happy, and besides 
all that, loved him better than any of his other 
children. To show that he was the favored son, 
although there were ten older brothers in the 
family, his father gave him a present which meant 
that he was the chief son in his father's eyes. 
This present was a coat made of such beautiful, 
bright colors that it attracted the attention of 
everyone who saw it. 

Although he was a fine lad, he was very proud 
of this coat and when he wore it out among his 
brothers, the very sight of it made them angry. 
They knew that he was their father's favorite 
son, and they did not like this at all. He had a 
habit of doing one thing in particular that made 
his brothers dislike to have him around, and that 
was the habit of telling on them when they did 
what was wrong. 

Sometimes when they were out keeping the 
sheep, they would get to quarreling with one an- 
other and the sheep would be neglected. Then 

65 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

this younger brother would go home and tell his 
father about it, and their father would reprove 
them when they came in from the fields. When 
he was not with them the brothers used to talk 
about him, and they may have ended by saying 
something like this: "Just wait until we get a 
chance and we will get even with him. Just let 
us catch him out alone some time when our father 
is not near. We'll teach him a lesson that he 
won't forget very soon." And they meant what 
they said. 

Another habit which he had made them angrier 
than the tale-bearing, and that was telling his 
dreams to them. He was always having dreams 
which he thought very wonderful, and he would 
run out in the fields in the mornings to tell his 
brothers about them. His brothers were not in 
the habit of dreaming themselves, and it worried 
them greatly to have to listen to his dreams. But 
one morning he came out and said: "Last night 
I dreamed a very strange dream. All of us were 
out in the field together binding sheaves of grain, 
and behold, my sheaf stood up straight, and all 
your sheaves bowed down to my sheaf." 

His brothers were very angry indeed when he 
told this dream, and they said, "Perhaps you 
would have us think that you are greater than we 
are and that some day we will bow before you. 
Never think that we will do anything like that." 
And they hated him for his words and for his 
dreams, 

66 



EVERYTHING HE WANTED 

But he made matters still worse one morning 
not long after this when he came out to them 
again and said, "Last night I dreamed a very- 
strange dream. This time I saw the sun, moon, 
and stars bowing down before me." When the 
brothers heard this they were angrier than ever 
and said, "Perhaps you go so far as to say that 
the whole family will bow down to you some day. 
We will tell our father that you have told us this 
dream and we will see what he has to say about 
it this time." 

"I have already told my father about the 
dream," he answered, "and my father said, 'Do 
you mean that your mother and I and all your 
brothers shall one day bow down to you?' And 
my father is troubled about this dream," and he 
walked away. Then they were angrier than 
they had ever been before, for they had thought 
this would be a chance to tell their father some- 
thing that would make him angry with their 
brother. 

Not long after this the brothers went off from 
home to find new pasture lands for their sheep in 
another region. After they had been gone some 
time their father wanted to find out how they 
were getting along and if the land was good for 
the sheep, so he called Joseph, who had stayed at 
home because he was not yet old enough to be a 
herder or shepherd, and said, "Go down to 
Shechem where your brothers herd the sheep and 
find out if all is well with them, and how the 

67 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

sheep fare, and bring me back word about all of 
the affairs." 

So the lad put on his beautiful bright coat and 
started out with his head high, for he thought it 
was a fine thing to be sent on this important er- 
rand away from home, to report to his father 
about the flocks and herds. It was his first jour- 
ney alone, and he meant to bring back a faithful 
account of all that he saw and heard. 

But when he came to the pasture lands in 
Shechem, his brothers were nowhere to be seen, 
and he was wandering around looking for them 
when a strange man came up to him and asked, 

"Whom are you seeking?". 

"I am looking for my brothers who were feed- 
ing their flocks in this land," the boy replied. 

"I know where they are," said the stranger. 
"I heard them say that they were going over the 
hills of Dothan, a few miles south of here." 

Then the lad started to walk on to Dothan, 
hoping to find his brothers where the man had 
directed him. 

The brothers on the hilltop saw him some time 
before he got to the place where they were, and 
they began to grumble among themselves, say- 
ing: "Here comes this dreamer wearing his 
grand-looking coat, following us here no doubt, 
to bear tales about us to our father. This is our 
chance to get rid of him. We will kill him and 
then tell our father that a wild beast caught him 
and ate him up as he was on the way to find us." 

68 



EVERYTHING HE WANTED 

All the brothers agreed to this except one, who 
was named Reuben, and he said, 

"Let us not shed his blood, for, after all, he is 
our brother, and that would be a dreadful sin; 
rather let us throw him into one of these pits 
to die." 

Now, down in his heart Reuben was kinder 
than the others, and he meant to slip away before 
they put him into the pit and then come back after 
they were gone and draw him out and set him 
free. The others thought Reuben's plan was a 
good one, so he slipped away ; and they took the 
boy's beautiful coat from him and threw him into 
the pit and were just about to leave him to die 
when they looked up and saw a company of wan- 
dering merchants coming that way, going to 
Egypt to sell their goods. 

"Why not sell the boy to these merchants as a 
slave ?" said one of the brothers. "Then we will not 
be guilty of his death, and he will be out of our 
way forever, and we can have a little peace in the 
family when we are rid of his tale-bearing." 

"Good!" cried the others; so before the mer- 
chants got up to them, they drew him up out of 
the pit, and when the men came near they offered 
their brother for sale as a slave. The merchants 
were glad enough to buy him, for he was a fine- 
looking lad, and healthy, and they knew they 
could make money on him when they sold him in 
the market. So the merchants bought him for 
twenty pieces of silver. 

69 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Then the brothers killed a young goat and 
dipped the beautiful coat of many colors in its 
blood and started on their way home. After a 
while Reuben came back from another direction, 
and going to the pit looked in, meaning to rescue 
his brother, but, lo! the pit was empty and his 
brother was nowhere to be seen. 

When the brothers reached home in the eve- 
ning, their father was sitting near the gate watch- 
ing for Joseph to come home bringing news of 
how his brothers fared as they kept the sheep in 
the land far away from home. 

But to his dismay he saw all the brothers ex- 
cept Joseph, and they were carrying something 
which looked very familiar to him, and it filled 
him with terror. 

As they drew near, one of them said to him, 
"Father, can you tell what this is?" Although 
it was deep crimson and damp to the touch, Jacob 
knew only too well what it was. He wrung his 
hands and cried out in sorrow, "Alas! this is the 
coat of my well-beloved son, Joseph! Some evil 
beast must have slain him! My son, O my son!" 
And Jacob wept and mourned and nothing could 
comfort him. 

Then the brothers were terribly frightened, for 
they had not thought that their father's grief 
would be so awful to see, but they did not dare to 
tell him the truth of the matter, for they actually 
did not know that Joseph was still alive, for trav- 
eling in caravans in those days was full of danger 

70 



EVERYTHING HE WANTED 

because of the highway robbers who lurked in the 
rocks. 

So Jacob grieved daily, and the brothers were 
sorry every day for what they had done in a mo- 
ment of jealous anger, but it was too late to 
change things then. 

Study Topics 

1. Read the interesting story of Joseph told 

in Genesis, Chapter 37. 

2. What was the cause of Joseph's brothers 

plotting against him? 

3. Tell the story of Joseph's two dreams. Why 

did these dreams make the brothers still 
more angry? 

4. Tell the story of how Joseph was sold as a 

slave to be carried to Egypt. 

5. Tell the story of how the brothers attempted 

to deceive their father about what had 
happened to Joseph. 

6. Commit these lines to memory : 

"Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy 
days may be long upon the land which 
the Lord thy God giveth thee." 

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is 
For brethren to dwell together in unity ! 

For there the Lord commanded the bless- 
ing, 
Even life for evermore. ,, 
71 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

7. Try to find a picture which illustrates a 
family of brothers together. Attach this 
to your note book. 

Write an account of something which 
brothers might do together for their own 
pleasure. 



72 



CHAPTER XI 
A SERIES OF ADVENTURES 

The caravan had returned from the long and 
dangerous journey through the deserts, bringing 
the cloth and silk and precious stones which the 
people delighted to see. It was always a great 
event when the caravans came in. 

Men and women were gathered at the bazaar, 
each hoping to be able to buy the thing which 
pleased him most. The merchants were glad, for 
they saw they were to have a brisk trade that day, 
and be well repaid for all the hardships of the 
journey. They had something unusual to offer 
for sale to-day, and they rubbed their hands with 
satisfaction as they anticipated their profits. 

When the market opened, the customers seated 
on the mats waiting to hear the prices of the rich 
goods which were on display were astonished to 
see one of the merchants come forward with a 
tall and handsome young man by his side and to 
hear him call out, "A slave to sell, a slave to sell! 
Who will buy? Who will buy a slave?" 

In the company of buyers was a man named 
Potiphar, a captain in Pharaoh's army. When 
he saw the young man he decided at once to buy 
him for a slave, for he needed some one to help 
him with his affairs. Potiphar was a good judge 

73 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

of men and he knew as soon as he saw Joseph that 
this was no ordinary young man. So it came 
about that Joseph found himself a member of 
the household of one of Pharaoh's captains — 
a slave. 

As the days went by and Joseph fulfilled his 
duties with intelligence and promptness, Pha- 
raoh's captain became more and more convinced 
that he had made a wise choice in bringing Jo- 
seph into his household. He trusted this young 
man with all his money affairs, and did not even 
require him to give an account of what he spent. 
Potiphar had to go away from home very often 
in the army of Egypt, and when he left he put 
Joseph in charge of his family and trusted him 
entirely. All of Potiphar's affairs prospered un- 
der the hand of Joseph, and when he found that 
Joseph prayed and worshiped God the captain 
had even greater confidence in him. 

But in Potiphar's household there were some 
who were jealous of all the kindness which was 
shown to Joseph, and these men made a plot to 
try to get rid of him. When the captain returned 
from one of his expeditions away from home, 
these plotters were ready with an ugly story about 
Joseph which they felt sure would rouse Poti- 
phar's anger. 

It turned out just as they desired, for the mas- 
ter was so angry that he would not even give Jo- 
seph a chance to explain that it was not true, but 
had him thrown into prison at once. 

74 



A SERIES OF ADVENTURES 

There in the prison Joseph found a friend in 
the keeper of the prisoners, for, like Potiphar, the 
keeper of the prison soon discovered that this 
young man was different from the other men he 
had kept in ward, and before long he put Joseph 
in charge of some of the other prisoners. He had 
found out that Joseph could be trusted. Here 
in the prison Joseph kept his faith in God firmly 
in his heart, and when the keeper learned that 
Joseph trusted in God, he had even more faith 
in Joseph than he had had before he found this 
out. One day there came to the prison two of the 
servants of Pharaoh's household, who had been 
cast into prison because they had displeased their 
master. One was the royal butler, the other the 
royal baker, and they were put in Joseph's 
charge. Joseph was kind to them, and they told 
him about their affairs. 

When they awoke one morning they were 
greatly troubled, and they talked together about 
the strange dreams which they had dreamed in 
the night, and which troubled them so greatly, 
and at last they told Joseph and asked him if he 
could tell them what their dreams meant. 

This must have made Joseph think of the days 
of his childhood when he had told his own dreams 
to his brothers, and he listened carefully while the 
men made their dreams known to him. 

The butler said, "In my dream I saw a vine, 
and it had three branches, and the branches bud- 
ded, and blossoms came forth, and then clusters 

75 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

of ripe grapes hung upon the vines. I had the 
king's cup in my hand, and I pressed the juice 
from the grapes into the cup, and handed it to the 
king. Can you tell the meaning of this strange 
dream." 

Joseph said: "To God alone belongs the full 
knowledge of dreams, but he has given me power 
to interpret them. Your dream means that in 
three days you will be set free from prison and 
restored to your former place as butler to the king. 
When this comes to pass, will you speak to the 
king for me, and tell him that I have been thrown 
into this prison on a false charge, and that I have 
done nothing wrong?" 

And the butler promised Joseph that he would 
speak to the king as soon as he was free. 

Then the baker said, "In my dream I carried 
three baskets of white bread on my head, and in 
the top basket were all manner of bake meats for 
the king's table, and as I walked the birds of the 
air flew down and ate the bake meats from the 
top basket. Can you tell the meaning of my 
dream?" 

It made Joseph sad to have to tell the meaning 
of this dream, but he had to tell the truth, so he 
said, "Your dream means that in three days you 
will be hanged upon a tree, among the birds of 
the air." 

In three days after this the king's birthday was 
celebrated, and on that day the butler was re- 
leased from the prison, but the baker was hanged 



A SERIES OF ADVENTURES 

upon a tree. Thus Joseph's words came to pass, 
but the royal butler, in his joy at being free, for- 
got all about his promise to Joseph. 

For two years longer Joseph stayed in the 
prison and then a strange thing took place. The 
king began to dream dreams that troubled him, 
and he dreamed exactly the same dreams twice 
in succession. 

He sent for all his wise men and his interpre- 
ters, but none of them could explain the meaning 
of the dreams. 

Then the butler remembered his promise to 
Joseph, and he came before the king and said, 
"O King, I remember my faults this day, for 
while I was in the prison I dreamed a strange 
dream which was interpreted for me truly by a 
man who had been cast into the prison on a false 
charge. I promised him that I would speak for 
him when I came into your presence, and ask 
for his release, and not until this day have I re- 
membered my promise. This man, O King, could 
tell the full meaning of your dream." 

"Send for this man," commanded the king, 
"and I will see if he can interpret my strange 
dreams." 

So Joseph was summoned from the prison to 
appear before the king, as an interpreter of his 
dreams. 

The king said, "I dreamed that I stood on the 
brink of a river, and seven cows came up from 
the river. They were fat and well-favored, and 

77 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

they ate of the grass growing on the banks of 
the river. After them there came up seven cows 
that were thin and hungry, unlike any other cows 
I had ever seen in the land of Egypt. The thin 
and hungry cows ate the fat and well-favored 
ones and were no fatter than before. Then I 
awoke, but when I slept again I dreamed that I 
saw seven ears of grain on one stalk, full and 
good ; but after them I saw seven thin and blasted 
ears, and the thin ears devoured the full ears, but 
were no fuller afterward. None of the wise men 
of my kingdom can interpret these dreams. Do 
you understand their meaning ?" 

Then Joseph made answer, "O King, to God 
alone belongs the full understanding of dreams, 
and he has given me the wisdom to interpret thy 
dream. The seven fat cows and the seven full 
ears of grain stand for seven years ; and the seven 
thin cows and the seven blasted ears of grain 
stand for seven years. The dream means that 
there shall be seven years of plenty in your land 
followed by seven years of famine, and the two 
dreams which are so much alike mean that it shall 
surely come to pass. During the years of plenty 
the earth shall yield great abundance, but during 
the years of famine the earth will bring forth 
nothing. Now, O King, choose a man of judg- 
ment from among your subjects, who shall go 
over the whole land of Egypt, appointing over- 
seers in every district, and let him gather in the 
grain into store cities during the years of plenty, 

78 



A SERIES OF ADVENTURES 

that in the years of famine there may be food in 
this land. Let one fifth of all the grain be gath- 
ered and stored, then shall the people of Egypt 
have food when there is none in the fields." 

The king was pleased with Joseph, and he said 
to the people of his court, "Where shall we find 
such a man? He should have wisdom and the 
spirit of the Lord to fit him for this great work." 

But the people had no name to propose for the 
office. Then the king turned to Joseph and said: 
"As the Lord has given you the power to inter- 
pret my dreams, so will he give you wisdom and 
judgment to direct this great work. You shall 
gather in the grain and store it in storehouses, and 
you shall be second only to me in the kingdom. 
Only in sitting upon the throne will I be greater 
than you." 

Then the king took off his royal ring with which 
he stamped his sign on the things which he ap- 
proved, and he gave the signet ring to Joseph in 
token that he might have the right to sign for the 
king. He also put a golden chain around Jo- 
seph's neck as a mark of his favor, and gave him 
the kind of clothing which the king's representa- 
tive should wear, and Joseph became the greatest 
man in the king's household. He was given a 
chariot in which to ride as he went about the coun- 
try on business for the king, and heralds cried 
before him, "Bow the knee to Joseph." 

The king added an Egyptian title, "Zaphe- 
nathpaneah," to Joseph's name, which means, 

79 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

"God speaks and lives," and Joseph entered his 
new work in the name of the Lord. 

Study Topics 

Words that might have comforted Jo- 
seph in his troubles. They were written 
by a fellowcountryman of his, David. 
Commit to memory one verse, choosing the 
one you like best. 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; 

whom shall I fear ? 
The Lord is the strength of my life; of 

whom shall I be afraid ? 

When evildoers came upon me to eat up 

my flesh, 
Even mine adversaries and my foes, they 

stumbled and fell. 

Though an host should encamp against me, 
My heart shall not fear; 
Though war should rise against me, 
Even then I will be confident. 

For in the day of trouble he will keep me 

secretly in his pavilion: 
In the covert of his tabernacle will he hide 

me; 
He shall lift me up upon a rock. 

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see 

the goodness of the Lord 
In the land of the living. 
80 



A SERIES OF ADVENTURES 

Wait on the Lord; 

Be strong, and let thy heart take courage; 

Yea, wait thou on the Lord. 

(From Psalm 27.) 



81 



CHAPTER XII 

HOW JOSEPH WON A GREAT 
VICTORY 

Jacob sat with his hands clasped upon his staff, 
and his head bowed in perplexity and sorrow. 
There was no food in the land, and the animals 
and the people in his household would soon be in 
want. He had money in plenty, but of what use 
was money to him when there was no food to 
be had? 

His strong sons stood helpless before him. 
There was no grain in their barns either, and they 
could not bear to see their father so troubled in 
his old age, while they were powerless to help him. 
At last they ventured to say: "There is grain and 
to spare down in the land of Egypt, we have been 
told, and we can journey thither to buy if the 
great man there will sell to those from another 
land. We will take much money with us and 
perhaps he can be persuaded to sell enough to 
keep us alive." 

So Jacob gave his consent, and the men started 
off with empty sacks on the backs of their ani- 
mals, hoping that they might return with the sacks 
full of grain. 

There were ten of them in the company, but the 



HOW JOSEPH WON 

youngest brother stayed at home with his old 
father. This youngest brother was named Ben- 
jamin, and he was as the apple of his father's eye. 
Jacob had taken care of Benjamin ever since he 
had been a baby, when his mother died, and he 
loved him very tenderly. He would never let 
Benjamin go far from home because he was al- 
ways afraid something would happen to him; for 
Jacob had never forgotten his grief for his son 
Joseph, whom he had sent on an errand from 
which he had not returned. The other sons knew 
how their father felt about Benjamin, and they 
did not even ask for him to go with them. They 
had been so sorry for the wrong thing they had 
done about Joseph in the years gone by that they 
had tried in every way to make up to their father 
for the sorrow they had caused him, but they had 
never told him the truth about selling their 
brother to the caravan, and as no news had ever 
come of him, they were sure he was dead. 

When the company of Jacob's ten sons arrived 
in Egypt they found that the grain was being sold 
at the king's storehouse under the direction of 
the king's own representative. The place was 
crowded with those who had already come to buy, 
and the brothers had to wait patiently their turn. 
One by one the buyers left, having obtained the 
grain which they came to buy, but when the ten 
brothers appeared before the great man and he 
discovered that they were from another land, he 
asked, "From whence do you come?" and they an- 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

swered, "We come from the land of Canaan to 
buy grain for food." 

But to their amazement the governor answered, 
"I think you are spies. I will not sell you grain 
unless you can prove that you are not spying." 

"Truly we are not spies," they protested. "We 
have come to buy because there is no grain in 
Canaan where we live. We are all brothers, the 
sons of the same father, and we are good men 
and true." 

"But I still think that you are spies," said the 
governor, "and I will not sell to you until I am 
certain that what you say is true." 

At this the men began to tell their family his- 
tory, trying to convince the governor that it was 
all right to let them have the grain. They finally 
said, "There were twelve of us, but one of our 
brothers is dead, and the youngest one is at home 
with our father, for our father is growing old." 

When he had heard their story the governor 
said, "If you would have me believe all of this, 
you must bring your youngest brother here with 
you that I may see him. Nine of you must stay 
here and one of your number must go home and 
bring the youngest brother here." 

Then he put them all in charge of a guard. The 
brothers were in despair. They knew that their 
father would never consent to have Benjamin 
come over into Egypt, and therefore there was no 
hope of getting the grain, and they must all starve 
even if this cruel man should ever let them go 

84 



HOW JOSEPH WON 

home. He kept them in guard for three days and 
then sent for them to be brought before him. 

"I have thought it over," he said, "and I have 
changed my plan. I will sell you the grain, and 
nine of you may go home. But one of you shall 
remain in my land under guard until the rest of 
you return with this youngest brother of whom 
you have told me. And be very sure you may 
have no more grain nor even look upon my face 
again unless you obey my commands and bring 
the lad back with you." 

The brothers turned aside and talked among 
themselves, saying, "Surely this is a righteous 
judgment sent upon us for what we did in other 
years when we sold our young brother to the car- 
avan." But they were very careful not to let the 
governor hear them. 

Simeon agreed to stay bond in the governor's 
house while the brothers returned to their father 
with the grain which was to keep him from 
starving. 

In the meantime the governor himself went 
outside and gave a secret order to his overseer. 
This was, that the overseer must put back into 
the top of each of the brother's grain sacks the 
money which they had brought with them to buy 
the grain. 

On the way home the men opened their sacks 
to take out grain for the hungry animals, and 
there they found the money which they had taken 
to Egypt with them. They were filled with dis- 

85 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

may, but they dared not go back for fear they 
never would get home to their old father, who was 
waiting for the grain. 

When they did get home they told their father 
about the money the very first thing, and then 
they told of the conditions which the strange man 
had laid upon them before he would sell them any 
grain and what he required of them if they were 
to try to buy any more. 

When Jacob heard this, although he was un- 
happy to think of Simeon left in the strange land, 
nevertheless he said, "I will never let Benjamin 
leave me to go into Egypt. I sent Joseph on an 
errand away from home and he never returned, 
and Benjamin shall never leave me." 

By and by all the grain which the brothers had 
brought from Egypt had been eaten, and there 
was still no food to be had in their own land, so 
they pleaded with their father to change his mind. 

"There is no food in the land," they said, "and 
Benjamin and all the rest of us must die if we 
have no grain, so what will be gained by keeping 
him at home? The man said we should not even 
look upon his face again unless we brought our 
youngest brother with us, therefore, we pray you, 
let him go with us." 

At last Judah, one of the brothers, stood forth 
and said: 

"Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; 
that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, 

86 



HOW JOSEPH WON 

and also our little ones. I will be surety for him; 
of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him 
not to thee, and set him before thee, then let me 
bear the blame forever : for except we had lingered, 
surely we had now returned a second time." 

So in order to save the lives of all the rest 
Jacob finally gave his consent for Benjamin to 
go with the brothers, but it grieved him to do so. 

The men took rich presents with them, of such 
things as they had left in their land, hoping in this 
way to make the stern governor feel more kindly 
toward them, as well as to prove that they had 
paid for the grain which they had bought the first 
time, even though the money was found in their 
sacks when they were on the way home. Their 
father bade them a sorrowful good-by, and the 
brothers started out on their second trip into the 
strange land. 

When Joseph heard that they were at the gate 
again begging to buy grain he sent orders to his 
chief cook, saying, "Make a great dinner, for I 
shall have guests to-day, as all these men will dine 
with me." 

When the brothers came in they were terribly 
afraid because of the money which they had found 
in their sacks when they had started home from 
Egypt, so they bowed to the very earth before 
the great man, hoping to escape his anger. Then 
they told the overseer about finding the money in 
their sacks, and, to their amazement, he said, "Do 

87 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

not be afraid. I put that money back in your 
sacks myself, and my master will not be angry 
with you because of it." Then he went in and 
brought Simeon out to see them and they were 
thankful indeed to find him sound and well and 
glad to see them back again. 

At noon they were brought in to dine with the 
governor and when they entered they bowed to 
the very earth before him, for they stood in awe 
of him. The first thing that the great man said, 
was, "Is your father alive and well?" and they 
answered, "He is alive and well." Then he saw 
Benjamin, the youngest brother, standing among 
them, and he said, "Is this your youngest brother, 
the one of whom you told me?" and he turned to 
Benjamin and said, "May God be gracious to 
you, my son." Then suddenly, he left them and 
went into his own room to be alone. They could 
not imagine what had happened, but if they had 
dared to open the door, they would have seen the 
stern governor weeping like a child. 

After a while he came back and they sat down 
to dinner. They had a wonderful meal and a 
happy time, for they were sure the great man no 
longer thought they were spies. 

When the servants were filling the sacks with 
grain Joseph sent another secret message to his 
overseer. This time he said, "Put my own silver 
cup in the sack belonging to the youngest one." 
And the overseer saw that this was done. 

At the end of the dinner the brothers started 
88 



HOW JOSEPH WON 

home with their sacks full of grain. They had 
not gone far when a messenger from the governor 
came running after them. 

"Some one has taken our master's silver cup," 
he cried, "and I have come to find out if one of 
you has it." 

Of course, the brothers were very angry at this, 
and they said: "We have not your master's cup! 
We never took anything that did not belong to us 
in our lives!" 

But the man said, "Let me look in your sacks 
and see if no one has it." 

The men willingly enough put their sacks down 
on the ground to be searched, and there in Benja- 
min's sack was the governor's silver cup. The 
brothers were filled with dismay. They knew 
Benjamin had not taken the cup, but they did 
not know how they could prove his innocence. 
So they turned about sadly and started back to 
the governor's house with him. When they ar- 
rived the governor came out to meet them and 
said, "How could you do such a thing as this in 
return for my kindness to you?" 

At this Judah stood forth and made such a 
noble speech, telling of his father's love for Ben- 
jamin, of his promise to bring him home in safety, 
and of the sorrow in his father's heart if anything 
should happen to his youngest son, the comfort 
of his old age, that the governor could hold out no 
longer. "Send everyone else out of the room," 
he cried; "leave me alone with these men." 

89 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

When they were alone he threw his arms 
around them and cried, "I am Joseph, your 
brother, whom you sold into Egypt so many years 
ago. But grieve no longer that you did this thing 
to me, for God intended it for good. He has 
used me to save your lives, for there are still five 
years more of famine and there is grain and to 
spare in Egypt. A power greater than yours 
sent me into this land that I might be a deliverer. 
Hasten home to my father and tell him that I am 
alive and well, and that I have houses and lands, 
and food and to spare for all of you ; for I am sec- 
ond only to the king in power. Bring your wives 
and your children, and your flocks and herds, 
and come and live with me, and you shall be nour- 
ished while the famine shall last, and you shall 
have nothing to fear." 

They were filled with such joy and amazement 
that they could not speak for a while, and Joseph 
kissed them every one in token of his full for- 
giveness. 

When the king heard of this he was overjoyed 
for Joseph's sake, and said, "Tell your brothers 
to go back to Canaan and take a message of wel- 
come to your father from me. Take wagons from 
Egypt to bring the little ones back in, and your 
family shall have the best land that I can give 
them as a present." 

Then the brothers hastened home to their father 
with the glad news that Joseph was alive and the 
governor of Egypt, second only to the king in 

90 



HOW JOSEPH WON 

authority and power, and that he had sent for 
Jacob and all the household to come down into 
Egypt and live in peace and plenty under his 
protection. 

At first the news was too great for Jacob. He 
could not believe that the son for whom he had 
grieved as dead was alive and well in Egypt. But 
when he did fully understand he said, "If my 
beloved son Joseph is alive, I must see him again 
before I die." 

So they all made ready to move down into 
Egypt, and it was a joyful company when they 
set out on the journey. When Joseph heard that 
they were near the city he ordered his chariot 
and drove forth in haste to meet his father and 
do him honor. When they met they threw their 
arms around each other and wept aloud for joy. 

When he could speak, Jacob said, "Now that I 
have seen your face again, my beloved son, and 
know that all is well with you, I can be at peace 
in my heart all the rest of my life." 

So for many years they lived happily in the 
land of Egypt, where Joseph provided a house for 
his father, in the midst of his children and grand- 
children, and Jacob was never so happy as when 
he held Joseph's children upon his knee and told 
them the stories of their father's childhood days. 

Study Topics 

1. In what country did Jacob and his sons 
91 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

live? Had the famine foretold by Joseph 
from Pharaoh's dream extended beyond 
Egypt? How did it happen that there 
was grain to spare in Egypt? 

2. How many sons had Jacob? What was the 

name of the youngest ? Why did his father 
not want him to go to Egypt with his 
brothers? 

3. Tell the story of the reception of Jacobus 

sons by the officer in charge of the king's 
storehouse when they made their first trip. 
Who was this officer? 

4. Why do you think Joseph had the money 

put back into the sacks of grain? How 
did he make sure that the brothers would 
bring Benjamin to see him? 

5. Tell the story of the second trip into Egypt 

for grain and the result of it. 

6. Add to the last work in your notebook an 

account of something which any family 
of brothers might do together for the good 
of the whole family. 



92 



CHAPTER XIII 
MAKING A CHOICE 

How they labored in the hot sun, carrying 
heavy burdens upon their stooped shoulders, 
working with their hardened hands in the stiff 
clay, laying the stones one upon the other, meas- 
uring, climbing, and walking, walking, walking 
up and down on the walls bearing the materials 
to the builders! Not for one moment did they 
dare to stop, although they might be panting for 
breath, or ready to fall beneath their heavy loads ; 
for the cruel taskmasters stood ever near with 
whips in their hands ready to strike the first one 
who paused at his task. Every once in a while 
the overseer would crack his whip and call out, 
"The lash is in my hand; be not idle!" 

Near the place where they worked stood a tall, 
handsome young man watching with troubled 
face. He seemed to belong to the royal house- 
hold, for his clothes were such as the rich and 
powerful wore. His heart burned within him as 
he gazed at this scene of cruelty and injustice. 
He must have been thinking of other days and 
perhaps thoughts like these went through his 
mind: "How can I stand here dressed in soft 
clothing taking my ease when these, my brethren, 

93 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

are bending beneath the heavy loads? The prin- 
cess has been kind to me all these years, and I 
know that if she had not taken pity on me, a 
helpless baby in a basket among the bulrushes 
by the water's edge, I should have been killed in 
infancy by the command of the cruel Pharaoh. 
How thankful I am that my sister, Miriam, hid 
in the tall reeds and saw the princess take me in 
her arms. Because of Miriam's loving watchful- 
ness I can be thankful that it was my own mother 
who was chosen to nurse me, and care for me. 
How well I know the story of the sufferings and 
injustices that have been visited upon the people 
of my own nation ! How can I be content to go 
on living as the son of Pharaoh's daughter when 
my own people need me?" And the young man 
turned and walked back to his beautiful apart- 
ments in the palace, with a load upon his heart 
heavier than the burdens borne by his countrymen 
as they builded the store cities for the Egyptian 
ruler. 

The next day the young man returned to the 
place where his countrymen labored on the walls, 
and he longed to help in some way, although he 
did not know how to go about it. Suddenly some- 
thing happened that made him act before he had 
time to think twice. One of the taskmasters 
raised his heavy whip and struck viciously at one 
of the weary men who had paused at his work. 
The laborer staggered under the cruel blow, then 
fell to the ground in a helpless way. At once 

94 



MAKING A CHOICE 

the young man in the royal robes sprang forward. 
In his anger he struck the cruel Egyptian, whc 
toppled over dead from the fierce blow. The 
other workers had kept on steadily at their labors, 
never daring to look up, whatever happened, lest 
they too should feel the taskmaster's lash upon 
their shoulders ; so the young man thought no one 
had seen his deed. 

He picked up the body of the Egyptian and 
hid it in the sand. Then he returned to the palace 
and his heart was heavier than ever. 

The next day he went again to the place of the 
building, and this time as he watched, he heard 
two of his own countrymen quarreling together 
when the overseer could not hear them. The 
young man spoke to them and begged them not 
to quarrel, but they, not knowing that he was 
their friend, and thinking that he was on the side 
of the Egyptians, answered roughly. They had 
seen him the day before as he was burying the 
taskmaster in the sand and they did not know 
that he had killed the man in defense of one of 
their own number. They must have thought that 
he had had a quarrel with the man on his own 
account, so they said to him, "Who made you a 
prince and a judge over us? Do you think you 
will kill us as you killed the Egyptian?" 

Then the young man knew that he had been 
discovered in his deed, and he knew, moreover, 
that if news of this came to Pharaoh he would 
pay for it with his life, unless the royal princess 

95 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

would protect him. But he did not want to be 
protected ; he wanted to get away. The gorgeous 
hangings, the cool fountains in the palace courts, 
the royal favorites had grown hateful in his sight 
since he had watched the laborers toiling in the 
sun, and if he could not help them he could at least 
give up living like a prince himself. So that 
night the young man left the palace forever and 
went out into the country to earn his living among 

strangers. 

* * * 

Years had passed since the young man went 
out into the world to earn a livelihood. A shep- 
herd sat on the ground watching his flocks as they 
grazed behind the mountain, in the land of Mid- 
ian. The sun was scorching hot, and the shepherd 
sat and thought of other days. The picture of 
his countrymen toiling in the sun in Egypt had 
never left his mind, nor had he ever ceased to long 
to help them. He stared at the bushes as he 
remembered his friends. The bushes were 
scorched by the sun. It seemed as if they too had 
suffered. Suddenly the bush nearest to him 
seemed to blaze with fire, and yet it was not de- 
stroyed. From the heart of the bush a voice 
spoke to the shepherd, saying, "Moses, Moses," 
and the shepherd answered, "Here am I." Then 
the voice said: 

"The place whereon thou standest is holy 
ground. ... I am the God of thy father, the God 

96 



MAKING A CHOICE 

of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of 

Jacob I have surely seen the affliction of my 

people which are in Egypt, and have heard their 
cry by reason of their taskmasters ; for I know their 
sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out 
of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them 
up out of that land unto a good land and a large, 
unto a land flowing with milk and honey. . . . 
Come, now therefore, and I will send thee unto 
Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people, 
the children of Israel out of Egypt." 

Moses could not take it in at first that in an- 
swer to his own burning wish and prayer he was 
to be chosen to deliver his brethren from their 
bondage in Egypt. He did not feel worthy to be 
a great leader, so he replied to God, "Who am I 
that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should 
bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" 

And God answered, "Certainly I will be with 
thee : and this shall be the token unto thee, that I 
have sent thee ; when thou hast brought forth the 
people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon 
this mountain." 

"Whom shall I say has sent me on this mis- 
sion?" asked Moses. 

"Say that the Lord Jehovah has sent you," 
was the answer. "Go in my name and gather the 
heads of the families together. Tell them to go 
with you before the king of Egypt asking him to 
let you go on a three-days' journey into the wil- 
derness to worship before the Lord. At first he 

97 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

will not give you permission to go, but I will put 
forth my hand upon Egypt with all my wonders 
and at last he will let the people go." 

"But they will not believe me nor hearken to 
my voice, nor believe that I am sent by the Lord 
God," said Moses. 

"What is in thy hand?" the Lord asked Moses. 

"A rod," he answered. 

"Cast it upon the ground," commanded the 
Lord. 

Moses cast the rod upon the ground and it be- 
came a crawling serpent. Then Moses was afraid 
to touch it, but the Lord said, "Put forth thy 
hand and take it up," and Moses obeyed; and 
when he picked it up the serpent became a rod 
again. This was only one of the wonders which 
God gave Moses the power to perform in order 
that he might convince Pharaoh that he had been 
sent by God to speak for the people. For Pha- 
raoh would not be moved by words alone. 

In spite of all this, Moses hesitated to go, for 
he did not think that he could speak well enough 
to persuade the people to listen to him. He did 
not imagine he could ever get the attention of 
Pharaoh with his slow speech, so he was afraid he 
would fail in the great work which God desired 
him to carry out. 

God understood Moses ; so Aaron, Moses' older 
brother, was chosen to go along with him to make 
the speeches, while Moses was to be the leader in 
the undertaking. 

98 



MAKING A CHOICE 

Study Topics 

Many years have passed between the 
day when Joseph sent for his father and 
brothers to come down into Egypt to make 
their home and the time when the events 
of this lesson occur. The Hebrews have 
multiplied until they number many thou- 
sands, and the Egyptians have turned 
against them and made them slaves. 

1. Tell the story of the early life of Moses. 

You have often heard the story, which is 
found in Exod. 2. 1-10. 

2. Out of what did the Egyptians build most 

of their houses ? their pyramids ? What is 
meant by "making bricks without straw"? 
Where is this expression found in the 
Bible? 

3. Tell how you think Moses felt when he saw 

the Egyptian overseer strike the Hebrew 
workers. Do you think he meant to kill 
the Egyptian, or that in his anger he 
struck harder than he intended? 

4. Tell the story of how Moses learned that 

his killing of the Egyptian was known. 
What did Moses do when he learned that 
his act had been seen? 

5. Tell the story of God calling Moses to go 

to deliver his people out of their Egyptian 
slavery. 



99 



CHAPTER XIV 
A MAN WHO DEFIED GOD 

The haughty Pharaoh sat upon his throne. 
Before him stood the heads of the Hebrew fam- 
ilies. Moses and Aaron were at the head of the 
company. All this was in obedience to the direc- 
tions which God had given to Moses as he 
watched his sheep in Midian. Aaron was speak- 
ing, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 'Let 
my people go, that they may hold a solemn feast 
in the wilderness.' " 

The haughty Pharaoh answered, "Who is the 
Lord that I should hearken to his voice to let the 
people go? I know not the Lord, neither will I 
let the people go." 

Then just because Moses and Aaron and the 
heads of the Hebrew families had dared to come 
before him, making such a request for the people, 
Pharaoh decided to make it harder than ever for 
the laborers in the sun, who were building his 
store cities. He sent out orders that very day to 
his taskmasters, commanding that in the future 
no more straw should be given to the men who 
made the brick, and that they should be required 
to turn out just as many bricks every day as they 
had been able to make when they were allowed 

100 



A MAN WHO DEFIED GOD 

straw. This was impossible; and although the 
workers toiled to the limit, they could not come up 
to the new standards set by the taskmasters. 

But while the workers were toiling against dif- 
ficulties, Pharaoh himself began to learn some- 
thing about trouble which he could not overcome. 
One after another calamities came upon the land 
of Egypt, but the Hebrew people did not suffer 
from them. 

Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh, 
after each new disaster, begging him to let the 
people go, and trying to make him see that the 
hand of God was against him, because he refused 
to hear their messages. Sometimes Pharaoh was 
on the point of consenting, and he would say that 
the people might go, but before they could get 
started he would go back on his word and compel 
them to remain at work in Egypt. Thus Pharaoh 
steadily set his will against the will of God in the 
matter of the Hebrew people: 

At last there came an awful night in the land 
of Egypt. In the home of every Egyptian fam- 
ily the eldest son lay dead, but in the Hebrew 
families all were alive and well. The Angel of 
Death had passed through the land that night; 
but where he had seen a red mark on the door 
lintel he had not entered. These were the homes 
of the Hebrews, and their doors had been marked 
with the blood of a lamb, according to the com- 
mand of God, which had come to them through 
Moses. At last God was to show forth his power 

101 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

to the daring Pharaoh who had defied him. Moses 
told the people to be ready to leave the land in 
the middle of the night, for he knew that Pharaoh 
would at last let them go. 

When Pharaoh found out the awful thing 
which had happened, he knew that his cruelty to 
helpless people was receiving its just punishment, 
so he called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Rise 
up, get you forth from among my people, both 
ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the 
Lord. Take both your flocks and your herds, 
and be gone." 

So the people, who were ready to leave at a 
moment's notice, gathered their belongings to- 
gether and set forth in a great company to escape 
from the cruel tyrant in Egypt. Moses gave 
directions to take the road toward the Red Sea, 
for he knew if they were once safely across, Pha- 
raoh could not get them if he should change his 
mind, as he had so often done before. As a guide 
to speed them on their journey God gave them 
a column of smoke to lead them by day and a 
column of fire to lead them by night. As long as 
they could see these signals they knew that the 
Lord was leading and watching over them. 

After they had gone some distance Pharaoh 
realized how much he had lost by letting so many 
valuable workmen, who were his slaves, leave the 
land, and he was sorry that he had decided to 
yield to Moses and Aaron when he was in trouble. 
So he called his soldiers together and made ready 

102 



A MAN WHO DEFIED GOD 

to pursue them and capture them before they got 
out of the country. It was an imposing company 
of horsemen and chariots and captains and sol- 
diers, with the mighty Pharaoh himself at the 
head. 

The Hebrews were encamped by the Red Sea 
when they heard the distant rumble of the chariot 
wheels. They knew that they were being pur- 
sued. Which way should they turn to escape? 
If they went back, they would meet the approach- 
ing army. If they went forward, they would be 
drowned in the sea. In their trouble they cried 
unto God. Then they complained to Moses that 
he had only caught them in a trap from which 
they could not escape, by bringing them out of 
Egypt. But Moses said: "The Lord shall fight 
for you. Hold your peace. " 

At once the column of cloud removed from in 
front of the company and stood behind them, be- 
tween them and the oncoming Egyptian army, 
and while it gave light to the Hebrews it dark- 
ened the way of the Egyptians and confused 
them. All that night God sent a strong East 
wind and it blew against the Red Sea until the 
waters were driven back and the sea became dry 
ground where the bed of it was uncovered in 
front of the place where the children of Israel 
were encamped. When Moses saw that there was 
a path through the sea, he gave the command for 
the company to move across at once, and they 
passed over, every one of them, safely, on dry 

103 



FOLLOWERS OP THE MARKED TRAIL 

ground. Just as the last one reached the other 
side Pharaoh and his hosts came charging down 
on the Egyptian side of the sea. On he plunged 
and his army followed, but, alas! Pharaoh had 
not counted on who was leading the children of 
Israel, for he defied God. No sooner were they 
all out on the bed of the sea than the waters re- 
turned to their natural place and Pharaoh and 
all his hosts were drowned in the midst of the sea. 
Thus did God deliver his people and set them 
free to follow Moses to a new home. 

Some of the Song which Miriam Sang 
with Moses 

"I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath 

triumphed gloriously: 
The horse and his rider hath he thrown 

into the sea. 
The Lord is my strength and my song, 
And he is become my salvation: 
This is my God, and I will praise him; 
My father's God, and I will exalt him. 
Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he 

cast into the sea; 
And his chosen captains are sunk in the 

Red Sea. 
Who is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among 

the gods? 
Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, 
Fearful in praises, doing wonders? 
Thou in thy mercy hast led the people 

which thou hast redeemed : 
104 



A MAN WHO DEFIED GOD 

Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them 
in the mountain of thine inheritance, 

The place, O Lord, which thou hast made 
for thee to dwell in." 

Study Topics 

1. Who was Miriam? Where have you heard 
of her before in connection with the story 
of Moses' life? 
4 2. What were the disasters God sent upon 
Pharaoh and his people before Pharaoh 
would consent to let the Israelites go? 

3. Read Exod. 12. 21-36 and then tell the story 

of the Passover. 

4. Tell the story of how the Israelites got 

across the arm of the Red Sea and what 
befell the Egyptians. Read the Bible 
story found in Exod. 14. 15-31. 

5. By what means did God direct the Israelites 

the way to go and convince them that he 
was leading them? 



105 



CHAPTER XV 
SEEKING THE TRAIL 

"How well do I remember that day when I 
stood hidden in the reeds by the Nile! Even to 
this day in my mind's eye I can see the little ark 
daubed with pitch to keep out the water. When 
I saw the princess coming my heart fluttered like 
a bird. She was wonderful to look upon, that 
Egyptian princess, in her embroidered robes, as 
she came down the path carrying her head so 
proudly as her attendants waved the great palm 
fans slowly back and forth and protected her 
from the burning sun. I felt sure when I once 
saw her face that our little brother was safe, and 
that our mother had been wise when she trusted 
him in the ark to the mercy of the Lord. 

"When the princess picked him up and held him 
in her arms and looked lovingly in his face I knew 
it was safe for me to speak. I well remember how 
I ran down to her side and asked, 'Shall I find 
you a nurse for him among the Hebrew women?' 
and she said, 'Yes.' What a happy day it was 
for me! I ran and brought our own mother, 
though the princess knew it not, and she took her 
child back into her arms. Do you not think, 
Aaron, that all of it was in the hands of the Lord? 

106 



SEEKING THE TRAIL 

"Would Moses ever have been stirred with 
sorrow at the sufferings of our people if our 
mother had not taught him the history and the 
traditions of his own nation as he grew up in the 
palace of the Pharaoh? I am proud and thank- 
ful indeed that I had even a small part in shaping 
his childhood. Are you not proud to be the 
brother of the great leader of Israel?" 

Thus Miriam talked with Aaron as they sat 
resting after the Song of Triumph had been sung 
in gratitude for the passing through the Red Sea. 

"In very truth I am proud to be his helper," 
answered Aaron, "and I mean to stand by him 
always, ready whenever he needs me, and even as 
you, Miriam, play upon the timbrel and sing glo- 
rious songs, and urge the people forward with 
your noble words, so shall I repeat in the hearing 
of the people the messages which Moses receives 
from the Lord God. I never shall fail him, but 
will uphold his hands whenever he has need of 
me." 

As Miriam and Aaron sat and talked thus to- 
gether and pledged their loyalty to Moses and 
committed themselves to stand together as a 
united family, they little dreamed of all that lay 
before them in carrying out this pledge. Per- 
haps many times in the forty years which followed 
they had reason to think of this day when they 
had promised one another to be faithful to their 
brother. Many a perilous day did they pass; 
many adventures did they have by land and by 

107 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

water; through the rough and howling wilder- 
ness did the way lead as they struggled to find 
the way back to the Marked Trail — the pathway 
God meant for them to follow. But Miriam and 
Aaron and Moses suffered and endured, for God 
had promised to be with Moses, and they knew 
that God's promises never failed. 

The company had not traveled far until they 
began to find fault with Moses because their pro- 
visions were giving out. 

"We wish we were back in the land of Egypt 
where we came from," they grumbled, "for there 
we at least had enough to eat. We have been 
brought out in this desert place to starve." 

God heard the people murmuring against 
Moses before he heard it himself, for God knew 
the very thoughts of their hearts. He called 
Moses to come to a quiet place and there he gave 
him a message for the people. God said, "Be- 
hold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and 
the people shall go out and gather a day's portion 
for each day, that I may prove them, whether 
they will obey me. And it shall come to pass on 
the sixth day, that they shall gather twice as 
much, for none shall be gathered on the seventh 
day, for that is the Sabbath." 

Then Moses and Aaron came to the people 
with the glad message that they were to be fed by 
the very hand of the Lord, and for forty years 
this food did not fail. In the morning God sent 
a small white thing on the ground for bread ; this 

108 





THE FINDING OF MOSES 



SEEKING THE TRAIL 

bread was called manna. In the evenings he sent 
quail for meat. 

There came a time when the water supply gave 
out and the people were suffering with thirst. 
Again they murmured against Moses, but God 
came to the rescue and showed Moses how to 
bring water out of the rocks, and the people had 
all they needed to drink. 

At one time such fierce enemies came up against 
the children of Israel that it seemed as if they 
would be wiped out of existence, but God made 
the decree, that as long as Moses held up his 
hands, the Israelites should be victorious, but if 
he let them down, the enemy should be victorious. 
Aaron must have had cause to remember his 
early promise, for he stood by Moses on one side, 
while Hur stood on the other, and when Moses 
grew so weary that he could hold up his hands no 
longer, they put their hands under Moses' arms 
and held his hands up for him. Thus were the 
enemy worn out with the battle and the Israelites 
conquered their foes. 

Many strange things came to pass as the Israel- 
ites wandered to and fro in the wilderness seeking 
the Trail, and many pages of history were writ- 
ten during their search. But one of the greatest 
events of all history took place when God called 
Moses up to a mountaintop and trusted him with 
a message which was intended for the whole 
world. 

God told Moses to tell the people where he 
109 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

was going, but he wanted Moses to come to the 
mountaintop all alone. God said to him, "Thou 
shalt come up, but let not the priests nor the 
people come up." 

So Moses went up alone to receive the message 
from God; and he stayed on the mountain with 
God forty days. But when he came down he had 
such a wonderful message that no one has ever 
been able to understand how he could take it all 
in, even in forty days. 

But while Moses was gone a terrible thing hap- 
pened in the camp at the foot of the mountain. 
The people did not know that he was going to 
stay so long, and they grew tired of waiting for 
his return. So they began to do wrong things, 
as Moses was not there to restrain them, and 
finally they went so far as to melt their rings 
and bracelets and earrings, and mold a calf of 
gold, such as they had seen among the heathen 
nations, and they sang and danced around this 
calf and then fell down and worshiped it. 

When Moses turned to come down from the 
mountain where he had been talking with God, he 
carried in his arms two tablets of stone upon 
which he had engraved the messages which God 
had given him for the people to guide them 
throughout all the rest of their lives. There were 
ten of these messages and they were the very 
words of God — the Ten Commandments. 

As Moses came down the mountain he heard 
the sound of singing and it did not sound like one 

110 



SEEKING THE TRAIL 

of Miriam's beautiful songs. As he drew nearer 
he discovered the dreadful truth — the people 
were having a heathen worship service around a 
golden calf. 

In his astonishment and horror Moses cast 
from his hands the precious tablets of stone on 
which God's messages were graven, and they 
were broken to pieces in the sight of the very 
people for whom they were intended. It was 
not until the people had repented in bitter sorrow 
for this awful sin, arid had tried to show their 
repentance by their deeds that God called Moses 
to come before him again to hear what he would 
say. This time there came a cloud over the Tent 
of Meeting in which the children of Israel wor- 
shiped the Lord, and the voice spoke to Moses 
saying, 

"Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the 
first: and I will write upon the tables the words 
that were on the first tables, which thou brakest. 
And be ready by the morning, and come in the 
morning unto mount Sinai. ,, 

In the morning Moses went up again to the 
top of Mount Sinai as God had commanded, and 
there God gave him the words of the Ten Com- 
mandments again just as they had been at first. 
When Moses came down from the mountain his 
face shone with the light that came from talking 
with God, and all the people wondered at the 
glory in Moses' face. Aaron went out to meet 

111 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

him, and Moses told Aaron the words on the 
tables of stone, and Aaron repeated them in the 
ears of the people. Thus were the Ten Com- 
mandments given to the world. 

Through Moses and Aaron God taught the 
Israelites all the great laws of health and happi- 
ness and right living, how to worship before him, 
and how to do that which was well-pleasing in 
his sight. 

But there came some sad days in the lives of 
Miriam and Aaron and Moses, the family whom 
God had trusted with so much of the leadership 
as the people sought to return to the Marked 
Trail — that is, to get back into the way which 
God intended them to follow. 

Miriam died in the wilderness, before the 
people ever reached the land flowing with milk 
and honey which God had promised to them. But 
her songs had kept courage in the hearts of her 
people as they wandered. They never forgot her 
noble songs, nor the way she had cheered and 
comforted her comrades as they traveled through 
the rough places. They always cherished her 
memory, and Moses and Aaron grieved for her 
many days. 

Although Aaron became the high priest of the 
wandering company, and was the head of the 
church, being chosen by God to lead the people in 
their worship, he did not live to enter the good 
land which God had promised to the children of 
Israel. 

112 



SEEKING THE TRAIL 

Aaron died on Mount Hor, not long after 
Miriam died, but the people never forgot to honor 
his memory. They remembered how he had come 
among them and ministered to them when a great 
pestilence broke out, and how he had risked his 
own life for their sakes, never forsaking them in 
the hour of danger; therefore his memory was 
sacred to them and to their children forever, for 
he had been a co-leader with Moses. 

Not even Moses, the great leader himself, was 
permitted to enter the good and pleasant land 
which God had promised to his people. For one 
day Moses disobeyed God, and instead of doing 
as God commanded, did his own way instead; so 
Moses was denied the joy of entering the Prom- 
ised Land. But one day the voice of God called 
Moses to come up to another mountain to talk 
with him. Moses had just finished writing a noble 
song, in which the history of the wanderings in 
the wilderness was told, when the voice of God 
called to him. Moses went up from the plain to 
Mount Nebo to meet with God. When he came 
there God showed him the Promised Land, which 
could be seen from the mountain top. There 
Moses saw rich valleys and sparkling streams, 
and palm trees and vineyards, and the splendid 
cities which should belong to the people whom he 
had led for forty years in their wanderings 
through the wilderness. And God said to Moses, 
4 'This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, 
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it 

112 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with 
thy eyes." 

And Moses was content not to go over himself, 
if the people whom he had served so faithfully 
might be permitted to enter in. But God honored 
Moses as no other man had ever been honored, 
for Moses never came down from the mountain. 
God took him to his heavenly home from the top 
of the mountain where he had looked into the 
Promised Land. 

Study Topics 

1. The story of how Aaron made the golden 

calf is told in Exod. 32. 1-6. The story 
of Moses breaking the tables of the law 
is told in Exod. 32. 15-20. The story of 
how Moses got the new tables of the law 
is told in Exod. 34. 1-8. Read as many 
of these stories as time will permit. 

2. Review the Ten Commandments (brief 

form) ; committing them to memory: 

i. Thou shalt have none other gods be- 
fore me. 

2. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. 

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the 

Lord thy God in vain. 

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 

it holy. 

5. Honor thy father and thy mother. 

6. Thou shalt do no murder. 

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

114 



SEEKING THE TRAIL 

8. Thou shalt not steal. 

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness. 
10. Thou shalt not covet. 

3. Write out in your notebook the command- 
ment which means most to you. Write 
your reason for this choice. 



115 



CHAPTER XVI 
A BRAVE GENERAL 

"Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, 
go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto 
the land which I do give to them, even to the chil- 
dren of Israel. Every place that the sole of your 
foot shall tread upon, that have I given, as I spoke 
unto Moses. From the wilderness, and this 
Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Eu- 
phrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the 
great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall 
be your border. 

"There shall not any man be able to stand be- 
fore thee all the days of thy life: as I was with 
Moses, so will I be with thee; I will not fail thee, 
nor forsake thee. 

"Be strong and of a good courage : for thou shalt 
cause this people to inherit the land, which I sware 
unto their fathers to give them. Only be strong 
and very courageous, to observe to do according 
to all the law, which Moses my servant com- 
manded thee: turn not from it to the right hand 
or to the left, that thou mayest have good success 
whithersoever thou goest. 

"This book of the law shall not depart out of 
thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day 
and night, that thou mayest observe to do accord- 
ing to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt 
make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt 

116 



A BRAVE GENERAL 

have good success. Have I not commanded thee? 
Be strong and of a good courage; be not affrighted, 
neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God 
is with thee whithersoever thou goest." 

The Lord God was speaking to the new gen- 
eral who was to take the responsibility of leading 
the great company, now that Moses, the match- 
less leader, was gone. As Joshua stood with 
bowed head and reverent heart, listening to the 
voice of God directing him to take up the great 
work as general of an army, he seemed to be in a 
dream. He had been born in Egypt during the 
years of bondage, and many a day had he worked 
with bare back under the scorching sun. He 
knew what it meant to hew rough stone from the 
quarries, and to make bricks without straw. He 
could remember the commands of the pitiless 
overseers in Egypt, for he had been growing into 
manhood when he had seen them as they struck 
the aching shoulders of the weary workmen. He 
had been one of those who had hurried out of the 
land at the command of Moses on that memorable 
Passover night. 

He had been following Moses as he had led the 
children of Israel through the wilderness these 
forty years, and he knew something about the 
struggles and the courage of that great man. He 
had been one of the spies who had been trusted to 
go on an expedition into the new land, from which 
only he and Caleb had brought back a good re- 

117 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

port. He had commanded the army when the 
Israelites had gone up against the enemies, and 
never once had he drawn back from danger or 
hardship. He had been faithful to Moses to the 
very end. All this must have passed through his 
memory that day when God called him to take 
Moses' place. The work he was to do would be 
different from that of Moses, for there were many 
battles to be fought in conquering the rich land 
which the Israelites were to enter, and Joshua 
was every inch a fearless soldier. God had 
watched over his actions up to this time, and he 
knew that Joshua was fitted for the work to which 
he was now called. Thus did Joshua become the 
new leader of the people who often wandered 
away from God and needed to return to the 
Marked Trail as true followers of Jehovah. 

The first thing which he did when he took com- 
mand was to issue orders to his officers. The offi- 
cers carried the instructions to the people, bid- 
ding them to prepare food for a journey, for the 
general's orders were these, "Within three days 
ye are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to pos- 
sess the land, which the Lord your God giveth 
you." 

The company was arranged so that the strong 
fighting men took the lead, while the old men, the 
women and the children, and the helpless cattle 
were to be in the rear. They were to be quar- 
tered in a safe place until the soldiers should re- 
turn with the news that the way was clear for 

118 



A BRAVE GENERAL 

them to pass over the river. When the soldiers 
went to search out the way they met their first 
great problem. How were they to get the com- 
pany across the river? There was no bridge, 
neither did they have any boats, but in some way 
the people must get over the Jordan. They went 
to Joshua with the problem, and they told him, 
"All that thou hast commanded us we will do, 
and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go. 
Only be strong and of a good courage." 

Then Joshua knew that he could depend upon 
them to follow his commands, and he was filled 
with renewed courage. 

He sent spies over into the new land to find 
out if it was safe for him to bring the people over. 
They had a very exciting adventure, in which they 
came near being captured, but they finally re- 
turned and reported to Joshua that the whole 
land was afraid of him because they had heard of 
his great victories in the past. 

So Joshua made plans to pass over the Jordan 
in the morning, for God had told him how it could 
be done. He said to the people, "To-morrow 
the Lord will do wonders among you." 

His next command was astonishing, but the 
people never thought of disobeying. He said to 
the priests : 

"Take up the ark of the covenant and pass over 
before the people. . . . Hereby ye shall know that 
the living God is among you. ... It shall come to 
pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests that 

119 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

bear the ark of the Lord, . . . shall rest in the waters 
of the Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be 
cut off; . . . and they shall stand in one heap." 

So the priests bearing the ark did just as 
Joshua commanded, and when they stepped into 
the river the waters were gathered in a heap to 
one side and the priests stood firm in the middle 
of the stream bed on dry ground. Then Joshua 
gave orders for the people to begin to march, and 
in a steady company about forty thousand of 
them passed over the river on the dry bed, until 
the company was landed safely on the other side. 
Then they had more faith in Joshua than they 
had ever had before, but Joshua told them to give 
all the glory to God, for it was by his power alone 
that this great thing had been accomplished. He 
commanded the priests to take twelve stones out 
of the middle of the stream and set them up on 
the bank of the river as a memorial to God of that 
great day. 

His next move was to prepare to conquer the 
city of Jericho, for that was the first city which 
they were to possess. The soldiers were keen for 
a battle, and they felt confident of victory with 
Joshua as the commanding officer. What must 
have been their surprise when Joshua issued com- 
mands unlike any that had ever been given to any 
army before! He said that the city was to be 
conquered without any fighting! No swords nor 
spears were to be used. Only trumpets and the 

120 



A BRAVE GENERAL 

steady tramp of feet ; and in the end the sound of 
the human voice. These methods were to bring 
the great city into their possession. 

The people of Jericho knew that the army of 
Joshua was near at hand, so they had shut their 
city gates and prepared themselves to resist a 
long siege. 

Joshua issued his marching orders. The com- 
pany was to be headed by seven priests carrying 
trumpets made of rams' horns, and they were to 
blow upon these trumpets all the time that they 
were marching. After them were to follow the 
priests bearing the ark of the Lord, and after 
them the great armed company. 

"Make no sound with your voices," commanded 
Joshua, "until the day that I shall give the com- 
mand. For six days you shall march around the 
city silently, with only the priests blowing upon 
the trumpets continually, but on the seventh day, 
you shall march around the city seven times, and 
the seventh time when the priests blow a loud 
blast upon the trumpets you shall shout aloud 
with a mighty shout, and the Lord will give you 
the city." 

Although these were strange commands to be 
issued to an army, the whole company obeyed 
Joshua to the letter, and on the last day they 
assembled for the final test. Silently they 
marched about the city six times, but on the sev- 
enth circuit, when Joshua gave the command, the 
priests blew a mighty blast upon the trumpets, 

121 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

the people shouted with a great shout, and the 
walls of the city fell down flat, and Joshua 
marched in with his victorious army and took pos- 
session in the name of the Lord who had given 
them the battle. 

This was the beginning of a conquering cam- 
paign conducted under the leaders of Joshua's 
army. Battle after battle did he fight; victory 
after victory did he win; but one day he suffered 
an overwhelming defeat. Joshua knew there was 
something seriously wrong with his army, for 
God had promised him victory so long as he 
obeyed the divine commands. 

So he set to work to try to find out the cause 
of his defeat. In conquering the city in the battle 
just before this God had given the command that 
Joshua's army was to take none of the spoils of 
their victory. When Joshua began his investiga- 
tion of his soldiers he found that one of them had 
taken some of the silver and gold and fine raiment 
and had buried it under his tent to keep Joshua 
from seeing it. The stolen goods were dug up 
and destroyed, and the soldier paid the penalty 
for his disloyalty; then Joshua's army was vic- 
torious again. After this victory Joshua built 
an altar unto the Lord God of Israel. This altar 
was made of whole stones, and in it Joshua put a 
copy of the Ten Commandments as Moses had 
received them from God. 

Once some kings tried to work a plot by pre- 
tending that they were poor men on a journey. 

122 



A BRAVE GENERAL 

What they wanted to do was to get inside the 
lines of Joshua's army. They accomplished this 
much. They came into the camp dressed like 
tramps and carrying old water skins and moldy 
bread, as if they had been traveling a long dis- 
tance; but they did not deceive Joshua, for he 
discovered who they were and what they were 
after, and he set them to work cutting wood and 
carrying water for his army, and kept them there. 

Another time five kings hid in a cave, intend- 
ing to come out upon Joshua unawares, and cap- 
ture him, but Joshua found out that they were 
in there and ordered his soldiers to roll great 
stones in front of the entrance to the cave and 
shut the kings up there. He kept them captive 
in the cave until he had completely defeated their 
armies. 

So Joshua conquered all the cities on the hills 
and in the valleys, all the land lying to the south 
and the precious springs of water there, and he 
took captive all the kings who defied him. Then 
he turned his army toward the north and they 
swept everything before them just as they had 
done in the south. It was said of Joshua, "He 
left nothing undone of all that the Lord com- 
manded Moses." 

Study Topics 

1. Locate in the book of Joshua the command 
which God gave Joshua as quoted at the 
beginning of the lesson. 
123 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

2. Recall how Moses had been leader of his 

people and tell of his final departure from 
them. 

3. Find on the map the Jordan ; also the Prom- 

ised Land into which Joshua was to lead 
the people. 

4. Tell the story of the crossing of the Jordan. 

What was the "ark of the covenant"? 

5. Tell the story of the taking of the city of 

Jericho. 



124 



CHAPTER XVII 
MAKING A PROMISE 

A great company was assembled at the place 
where Abraham had built his first altar unto the 
Lord. Here Jacob had consecrated his family 
to the Lord, and near by were buried the bones 
of Joseph, which had been brought up out of the 
land of Egypt as he had requested. It was in- 
deed a spot filled with sacred memories for the 
children of Israel. They were gathered here 
this day at the invitation of one whom they hon- 
ored and delighted to obey. Joshua had asked 
them to come. He had grown to a ripe old age 
among them, and he had called them here that he 
might remind them of some of the wonderful 
things which had come to pass since he had been 
their leader. 

For some years Joshua had been living quietly, 
enjoying the peace and prosperity that had come 
to the people since they had returned to the 
Marked Trail as followers of Jehovah. After 
the war had ended, Joshua had carefully divided 
the Promised Land among the people who had 
fought so valiantly for its possession. Although 
he had been the general whose wisdom and cour- 
age had made it possible for them to gain such 

125 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

victories, he did not claim a large portion for him- 
self; he took only a small portion of the fertile 
land and there he and his family had lived in 
peace and quiet. 

To-day he stood at Shechem, the place of holy 
memories — to make a last request of the people 
whom he had served so long and so faithfully. 
As they stood* by the altar of the Lord they 
could look out over the rich land which was their 
own. As they looked at Joshua, the grand, old 
soldier, who stood before them, and realized all 
he had done for them, they felt that all that was 
said and done this day must be regarded as 
sacred. 

Joshua began by reviewing their history, and 
they knew that he spoke the truth. Part of that 
history they had helped to make, part of it had 
been taught to them by their parents and grand- 
parents, and by the story-tellers of that time. 
Their hearts were stirred with patriotic fire as 
Joshua reviewed their wonderful history to them. 
From time to time he would ask, "Do you remem- 
ber this?" and they did remember. He took up 
the story of the Marked Trail: "Your forefathers 
used to live on the other side of the Euphrates 
River," he said. "Terah, the father of Abraham, 
lived there in Ur of the Chaldees, where they 
made images and worshiped idols. "" But God 
took Abraham out of that land and led him 
through the land of Canaan, and gave him a son 
whom he named Isaac. The sons of Isaac were 

126 



MAKING A PROMISE 

named Jacob and Esau, and the family of Jacob 
moved down into Egypt. After many years God 
sent Moses and Aaron to bring the people up out 
of Egypt, which had become the land of bondage 
for them. Your own fathers came out of Egypt in 
the company which Moses led when God helped 
them across the Red Sea, when the chariots of 
the Egyptians were lost in the same waters. For 
a long season your own families lived in the 
wilderness, and I, at last, became your leader 
and brought you into the land of the Amorites. 
There we fought for our lives and conquered the 
enemy, so that to-day this rich country belongs 
to you and to your children after you. We came 
across the Jordan and took the city of Jericho, 
and many another rich city did we take which is 
now your inheritance. Vineyards and olive yards 
which you did not plant you now enjoy, and you 
eat of the fruit of trees which you did not plant." 
Joshua paused here. He wanted the people to 
think of the blessings and comforts which they 
now enjoyed because he had a special aim in view. 
He knew that there were those among that com- 
pany of the chosen people of God who had been 
secretly worshiping idols, after the custom of 
some of the nations whom they had conquered. 
Joshua also knew that the time was not far off 
when he would be called to his heavenly home, 
and he yearned to have the people pledge their 
faith and loyalty to the Lord God in his hearing 
before he left them. 

m 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

So Joshua took up his theme in which he had 
paused to give the people time to think! 

"Now, therefore, fear the Lord," he begged 
them, "and serve him only, in sincerity and truth, 
and put away the gods which your forefathers 
served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. 
Serve ye the Lord. And if you do not think it 
right that you should serve the Lord, choose you 
this day whom you will serve, but as for me and 
my family, we will serve the Lord." 

When Joshua finished his address the people 
were all moved to answer him, for they knew he 
had earned the right to be obeyed during the 
years when he had so fearlessly led them at- the 
direction of the Lord God. Then, too, the fact 
that he had kept so little of the rich land for 
himself made them believe in his sincerity and 
goodness. So they cried out in answer: 

"God forbid that we should forsake him and 
serve other gods; for the Lord our God, he it is 
that brought us and our fathers up out of the land 
of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and that did 
those great signs in our sight, and preserved us 
in all the way wherein we went. Therefore we 
also will serve the Lord; for he is our God." 

Although Joshua's heart was glad when the 
people declared themselves for God, he wanted 
to make sure that they really meant what they 
said, so he asked them, "Are you determined to 
be faithful and true to this promise ? Remember, 

128 



MAKING A PROMISE 

that God wants only those promises which are 
faithful and true, and those who serve him truly 
must put away all other gods. Are you strong 
enough to do this?" 

And the people replied: "We are witnesses 
against ourselves that we have chosen the Lord 
to serve him. The Lord our God will we serve, 
and his voice will we obey." 

Then, that the promise might be recorded in 
history, Joshua caused the account of this great 
meeting to be written in a book in the law of 
God, and to be kept as a record of the promises 
of the people. 

After the record had been made he set up a 
great stone as an added mark to this place in the 
Trail, where the people had pledged their loyalty 
to God. All the days of Joshua, the people 
served the Lord. 

Study Topics 

1. On the map locate Shechem. Locate also 

the Euphrates River. 

2. Recall from the past lessons the events 

about which Joshua told his people : How 
God called Abraham out to a new land; 
the story of Jacob and Esau; how the 
Israelites came to go into Egypt; how 
they were led out from there; how they 
came to the Promised Land. 

3. Explain the meaning of each of the various 

129 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

references in the following hymn. Mem- 
orize the first two stanzas : 

1. Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, 

Pilgrim through this barren land; 
I am weak, but thou art mighty; 
Hold me with thy powerful hand. 

2. Open now the crystal fountain, 

Whence the healing waters flow; 
Let the fiery, cloudy pillar 

Lead me all my journey through. 

3. Feed me with the heavenly manna 

In this barren wilderness; 
Be my sword and shield and banner, 
Be the Lord my righteousness. . 



130 



CHAPTER XVIII 
THE WOMAN WHO HELPED 

"Let us go to the council seat under the palm 
tree. If we can find the good prophetess, she 
will listen to our story and try to help us. How 
long can we stand the cruel attacks of these cow- 
ardly foes? When it comes to shooting their 
poisoned arrows at helpless maidens at the foun- 
tain in the evening there is no way to tell how it 
will end! To think that we alone remain of all 
the maidens who went out to the fountain yester- 
day! I dare not go again, and perhaps we shall 
perish of thirst, for we can draw no water at the 
fountain for fear of our very lives." 

"But it is not upon us alone that this great 
cruelty is visited. Have you not heard how they 
have wounded and killed the old men and the 
feeble women, and even the little innocent chil- 
dren? There is nothing too cruel for the cow- 
ardly Sisera. He has shot down the helpless old 
people in the streets, and by his command all the 
property of our neighbors and friends has been 
taken from them." 

"If we had ever done them any wrong, we 
might be able to bear it, but the only reason for 
this is that the powerful enemies have us in their 
power and glory in our terror and suffering." 

131 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

"My father says that it is no longer safe for 
our strongest men to go about the streets on their 
daily business, but they must hunt the winding 
byways among the thick shrubs for fear of the 
arrows of the enemy. Would that we might 
find relief!" 

Thus two maidens talked together as they cau- 
tiously picked their way toward the council seat 
under the palm tree. 

Deborah, the wise counselor and judge, sat 
under the palm tree daily, giving comfort to the 
sorrowing, succor to the needy, counsel to the 
troubled, and love and sympathy and friendship 
to all who came her way. The fame of Deborah 
had spread throughout all the surrounding coun- 
try, and caravans and pilgrims might be seen 
daily going to and from the council seat. Deb- 
orah had a beautiful home of her own, with or- 
chards and vineyards and olive trees, but she de- 
nied herself the luxury and comfort of her own 
home on many days, when she came to the council 
seat, that she might minister to those who passed 
on their way to and from the great trading cities 
of that region. God had given Deborah the 
power to help others, and great wisdom to read 
beforehand the meanings in the affairs of men. 
None came to her in vain, but all went away 
strengthened and encouraged and comforted. 

Rumors had come to Deborah from time to 
time that the cruel captain Sisera, sent by King 
Jabin into their cities, had been guilty of perse- 

132 



THE WOMAN WHO HELPED 

cuting the helpless and the weak. But she did 
not know it all until the frightened maidens, 
whose companions had been slain at the fountain, 
finally made their way to her council seat. Then 
the heart of Deborah glowed with hot indigna- 
tion against Sisera and against Jabin, king of 
Canaan, and she determined that they should be 
punished for their evil deeds. 

She sent for Barak, a soldier who had done 
some fighting in other days, to appeal to him to 
raise an army and go against Sisera and bring 
him to the dust. Barak came in answer to her 
summons, and Deborah told him the story, then 
she said, "Hath not the Lord God given this com- 
mand unto thee through me ? Go, gather together 
ten thousand men from the tribes of Zebulun and 
Naphtali. Fight with this cruel Sisera, the cap- 
tain of King Jabin's army, with his horses and 
his chariots and his multitude, and the Lord will 
give you the victory." 

To Deborah's amazement and disgust Barak 
stood rooted to the spot, hesitating and afraid. 
He challenged Deborah to prove that she be- 
lieved that God would give the victory to the 
Israelites. "If you will go with me," he said, 
"then I will go, but if you will not go with me 
then I will not go." 

It did not take one moment for Deborah to 
decide. "I will go with you," she said, but in her 
heart she despised Barak's cowardice. 

She went with him to the place where they were 
133 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

to assemble the army, confident that the Lord was 
on her side and would help her. They finally 
got together ten thousand infantry soldiers, who 
were as nothing compared with Sisera's famous 
army. 

One of the Israelites proved a traitor and 
slipped away to Sisera and told him that Deborah 
and Barak were gathering an army to come up 
against him. Immediately Sisera called out his 
forces. He had nine hundred chariots of iron 
in addition to infantry and cavalry in great 
numbers. 

When Barak saw this great army approaching 
with the chariots gleaming in the sun he was 
filled with terror and wanted to go back home 
without fighting or else run to the mountains for 
safety, and hide among the trees. But Deborah 
scorned to turn back or to flee. "Up," she cried 
to Barak, "for this is the day in which the Lord 
hath delivered Sisera into thy hands: is not the 
Lord gone out before thee?" 

And Barak's cowardice gave way before Deb- 
orah's fiery courage, and he shouted to his men, 
for at last he felt assured that the Lord was lead- 
ing his army. 

Down from the mountain rushed the ten thou- 
sand foot soldiers in a mighty charge all together, 
and Sisera, suddenly overcome with terror at the 
sight of them descending upon him, turned and 
fled, and his soldiers fled after him. This put 
renewed courage into the hearts of Barak's men 

134 



THE WOMAN WHO HELPED 

and they pursued Sisera's men, fighting with the 
edge of the sword until the army was completely 
routed. 

The chariots were abandoned and their drivers 
fled for their lives, and Sisera outdistanced all 
the others in his efforts to escape. As he fled, 
he turned in for refuge at the tent of the traitor 
who had told him of Barak's approach, and there 
he met with a strange and terrible fate. 

When Deborah realized that the Lord had 
given her people the victory, and that at last the 
helpless sufferers were to be delivered from their 
tormentors, she sang a song of triumph, almost 
as famous as that which Miriam sang, when the 
Israelites crossed the Red Sea. This song be- 
came a part of the history of the followers of the 
Marked Trail. 

Then Deborah returned to her own home and 
continued to go to the council seat under the 
palm tree, that she might help and advise and 
comfort the people in the name of the Lord. 
The council seat became as a guide post on the 
Trail, and the land had rest and peace for many 
years. 

Study Topics 

1. Find in Judges 4 and 5 the story of how the 

wicked Sisera oppressed the people of 
Israel. 

2. Tell how Deborah busied herself helping 

135 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

her people. What finally decided her that 
the army of Israel must punish Sisera? 

3. Why do you think Deborah was so confi- 

dent the Israelite army would be victo- 
rious ? 

4. Tell of the combat and its outcome. 

5. This is a part of Deborah's song. Read it 

over several times as you think of the joy 
and gratitude in her heart for what God 
had done for her people : 

"Hear, O ye kings ; give ear, O ye princes ; 
I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; 
I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of 

Israel. 
My heart is toward the governors of Israel, 
That offered themselves willingly among 

the people : 
Bless ye the Lord." 



136 



CHAPTER XIX 
A DARING MESSENGER 

The summer palace was gay with flowers, 
sparkling fountains, and singing birds. Attend- 
ants dressed in robes of softest silk and cloth of 
brilliant colors waited breathlessly the slightest 
nod or gesture from the haughty queen in her 
royal raiment, sitting upon her glittering throne. 
By her side sat the king, wearing his crown, it is 
true, and holding the scepter in his hand, but he 
had no power in the kingdom to compare with 
that of the scornful woman who sat by him, and 
who ruled him as she ruled his subjects. 

This man belonged to the line of the kings of 
Israel, a nation whose God was Jehovah, but the 
queen had come out of a heathen nation, whose 
customs she continued to follow in the land where 
the people were pledged to worship the true and 
living God. She had persuaded her weak and 
willing husband, the king, to set up altars where 
idols of wood and stone might be worshiped and 
where the people might carry on the worship of 
her native country, where the inhabitants wor- 
shiped the sun as a god. She also influenced 
him to break down the altars that had been 
erected to the true and living God, and to set up 

137 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

the heathen worship as the religion of the royal 
house. At her own expense she supported a 
household of priests to conduct this heathen wor- 
ship, and four hundred and fifty of them sat 
down to eat every day at the royal table. 

This powerful woman was named Jezebel, and 
her husband was King Ahab, a descendant of one 
of those Israelites who had come up into the 
Promised Land under the leadership of Moses 
and Joshua. 

Jezebel rejoiced in her power over King Ahab, 
and more than anything else in the world en- 
joyed making him follow her commands. As 
she sat on her throne in the summer palace wear- 
ing her bracelets and necklaces and rings, and 
basking in all the luxury which was provided for 
her, she must have smiled to herself at the thought 
of how she had succeeded in establishing the wor- 
ship of Baal in that land; and of how she had at 
last driven all of the prophets of God out of the 
kingdom, until they were forced to find homes in 
the caves in the deserts, not daring to prophesy 
in the kingdom over which she held such abso- 
lute control. 

Suddenly, without a word of warning, a 
strange-looking man with a garment of wool 
thrown about him and a stout staff in his hand 
burst into the throne room and faced the king and 
queen. This was an unheard-of thing! he had 
not stopped to ask permission to enter the royal 
presence, but had come in boldly, never troubling 

138 



A DARING MESSENGER 

himself to kneel before their thrones and touch 
his forehead to the ground, waiting for their con- 
sent to listen to his message. With his eyes glow- 
ing like fire and his long, thick hair tossed back 
by the swift gesture of his head, he cried in a 
voice of command, 

"As the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth, before 
whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain 
these years, but according to my word." 

The king and queen were too astonished to 
speak. At last Jezebel recovered from her 
speechless rage enough to open her lips and com- 
mand her guards to throw him into a dungeon. 
But the fearless messenger had vanished as mys- 
teriously as he had appeared, and for once the 
haughty queen found herself baffled. Ahab sat 
shaking with terror. Although he had been 
weakly led about by the queen and had carried 
out her wicked demands, nevertheless, down in 
his heart he still feared the God of his fathers and 
desired to worship him. Ahab realized the awful 
meaning of the words to which they had just lis- 
tened more fully than Jezebel did, for he knew 
who this terrible, fearless man was. Ahab knew 
that a prophet of God had dared to come into 
their presence and that the message which he de- 
livered was from God himself . Therefore Ahab 
trembled and feared because they had seen Eli- 
jah, the prophet, that day. 

Jezebel feared because she knew the meaning 
of years of drought. What would happen to her 

139 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

gay palace life if there should be no dew nor rain 
in the land? With all her arrogance she had 
sense enough to know that she could not make it 
rain. Down in her wicked heart she knew that 
there was a power which neither she nor her four 
hundred and fifty priests of Baal could control. 
But her rage mastered her and she turned on 
Ahab and blazed out, "Command thy soldiers to 
go and find this man! I will slay him with my 
own hands for his cruel message 1" 

And Ahab, not daring to disobey Jezebel, es- 
pecially when she was angry, sent soldiers every- 
where, even to the uttermost parts of the king- 
dom, but no trace of the prophet of God could 
be found. 

In the meantime, far off in a ravine, among the 
mountains, where thick shrubs clustered around a 
sparkling brook whose cool waters trickled over 
the rocks, Elijah, the prophet of God, was safe 
and secure, living the outdoor life which he un- 
derstood and loved. It was in obedience to the 
direction of God that Elijah had come back to 
the mountains where he was living when he took 
the message to the palace. Here by the brook 
Cherith God had told Elijah that he should not 
suffer from hunger nor thirst, for by his own 
power God would provide for him food and 
drink as long as he remained there in obedience 
to God's command. Even if Ahab's soldiers had 
come that way trying to find him, there were 
many secret places among the rocks and caves 

140 



A DARING MESSENGER 

known to Elijah, where they would never think of 
suspecting that he was hidden. 

So Elijah stayed there in the mountains, and 
God took care of him. But, at last, even the 
sparkling brook Cherith began to show the effect 
of the drought. There had been no rain to feed 
it for a long time, and the rocks were dry and 
parched in the constant sun. The little brook 
began to dry up, but Elijah stayed on as God had 
commanded. One day God gave him the com- 
mand to leave the mountain fastnesses and go into 
the city. "Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which 
belongeth to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I 
have commanded a widow there to sustain thee," 
was the command God gave Elijah. 

At once Elijah rose and started toward Zare- 
phath. He knew that the people of that town 
did not worship the true and living God, but he 
was sure God had a reason for sending him into 
a heathen country, and he was not afraid to go. 
When he came near the city gates he saw a 
woman outside the gates gathering some sticks 
to make a fire. He called to her, "Fetch me, I 
pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may 
drink." She started off to get the water for him, 
and he called after her, "Bring me, I pray thee, 
a morsel of bread in thine hand." 

The woman knew as soon as she looked at 
Elijah that he was a prophet of God, and when 
she answered him she used words that proved 
this, for she said, "As the Lord, thy God, liveth, 

141 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

I have not a cake, and there is only a handful of 
meal in the jar, and very little oil in the cruse. I 
was gathering these sticks for a fire, that I might 
make this into bread for my son and me, and 
after that we must die of hunger." 
But Elijah answered: 

"Fear not; go and do as thou hast said, but 
make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it 
forth to me, and afterward make for thee and thy 
son. For thus saith the Lord, The barrel of meal 
shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, 
until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the 
earth." 

Although the woman belonged to a heathen 
nation, she believed Elijah's words, therefore she 
went in and made the cake and brought it out to 
him with the water. As Elijah had promised, 
she and her son had food for many days from her 
store of meal and oil, and the prophet lived in 
the house with them. 

The soldiers of Ahab never thought of coming 
to Zarephath as they kept up their search for 
Elijah, for it never occurred to them that the 
prophet of God would be in a heathen city. How 
amazed they would have been if they had known 
that he was right where they could have captured 
him at any moment ! 

One day Elijah had it in his power to do the 
greatest service for the widow of Zarephath that 
she could have asked of him. He saved her only 

142 



A DARING MESSENGER 

son's life. After this the woman ceased to wor- 
ship the heathen gods, and said to Elijah, "Now 
I know that thou art a man of God, and that the 
word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth." Then 
Elijah understood why God had sent him into a 
heathen country during the drought. 

Study Topics 

1. Read the part of this story that is found in 

1 Kings 17. 

2. Who was the queen? who the king? Of 

what religion was the queen ? What meas- 
ures did she take to have her own religion 
advanced among the people ? 

3. Who was Elijah? What was the message 

God gave him to deliver to the king and 
queen? 

4. What did Jezebel order done to avenge her- 

self on Elijah? Where had Elijah gone? 
Can you locate on the map the brook 
where Elijah lived? 

5. Where did Elijah go to live after the brook 

began to dry up? Tell the story of the 
widow's supply of meal. In what other 
way did Elijah repay her for her kind- 
ness ? 



143 



CHAPTER XX 
A TEST ON A MOUNTAIN 

"Let us go through the whole land and see 
if we can find any fountains or springs of water. 
It may be there is some sheltered place where we 
have not yet searched where we can find enough 
for the suffering cattle, and horses and mules, 
and we can lead them there and save their lives. 
They will surely all die unless we soon find food 
and drink for them. You take one side of the 
land and I will take the other, and we will not 
give up until we have looked over the whole 
land." 

Could this be the former lofty king of Israel, 
consulting so anxiously with one of his servants as 
he tried to find food and drink for the starving 
animals? Was this the same man who had been 
accustomed to sit upon a golden throne in an 
ivory palace, obeying the whims of an exacting 
heathen queen? 

It was indeed King Ahab, out with his over-: 
seer, Obadiah, trying to plan some way to save 
the animals from death. For three years there 
had been no rain nor dew and the famine had 
been sore in the land. Things were very different 
in Ahab's palace from the way they had been on 

144 



A TEST ON A MOUNTAIN 

that summer day when the prophet of God had 
burst in upon them with his awful message. And 
all that he had prophesied had come to pass, and 
as the days went by Jezebel hated him more and 
more, and grew angrier each time that Ahab's 
soldiers returned with news that they could not 
find him in the kingdom. The royal power had 
failed as completely here, as it had in bringing 
rain or dew upon the earth. 

So Obadiah started off in the direction 
appointed by Ahab, not knowing what an aston- 
ishing adventure was before him. On the road 
down which he traveled, something happened 
which put all thought of Ahab's commission out 
of his mind. As suddenly as he had appeared 
in the palace three years before, Elijah stood in 
the road in front of Obadiah. In terror Obadiah 
sprang down from his chariot and fell upon his 
face at the feet of the prophet. "Is it thou, my 
lord Elijah?" he cried, trembling. 

"It is I," calmly answered Elijah, "and thou 
shalt go to thy master, Ahab, and tell him that 
Elijah is here." 

But Obadiah was afraid to carry any such 
message as that. He had been present when 
some of the messengers had returned after search- 
ing for Elijah with the report that he could not 
be found, and he had seen them put to death by 
the command of Jezebel in her rage at their 
failure. How could he know that Elijah would 
not disappear before Ahab could get there? If 

145 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

he should not be there when Ahab came, Obadiah 
was sure that his own life would not be worth a 
straw if the news ever got to Jezebel. So he 
begged Elijah not to send him. 

"There is no nation nor kingdom whither my 
master hath not sent to seek thee," said Obadiah, 
"and when they returned saying thou couldst not 
be found he was merciless to them, and now thou 
sayest, 'Go tell thy master, Behold, Elijah is 
here.' And it will come to pass as soon as I am 
gone from thee that the spirit of Jehovah will 
carry thee whither I know not: and so when I 
come up and tell Ahab and he cannot find thee 
he will slay me." 

But Elijah promised, "As the Lord of hosts 
liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show 
myself unto him this day." 

Then Obadiah started off to carry the message 
to Ahab, and the prophet was left alone. Elijah 
was not afraid to meet Ahab, for he had come to 
this place in obedience to the command of the 
Lord God. God had told him to leave the wid- 
ow's house and go before Ahab with a message 
as he had done the day that he appeared so sud- 
denly in the palace. God had never failed him 
yet, and he trusted him now. While Elijah was 
standing in the road thinking about the mission 
he had to carry out, he looked up and saw Ahab 
coming swiftly toward him. Fear and anger 
were written on Ahab's face, and he called out, 
"Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel?" 

146 







Copyright. 19U9, by Harold Ci. 



ELIJAH MEETING AHAB 



A TEST ON A MOUNTAIN 

Fearlessly Elijah answered him, "I have not 
troubled Israel, but thou and thy family have 
brought all this trouble upon the land. Thou 
hast forsaken the commandments of the Lord, 
and thou hast followed idols. Now, therefore, 
send, gather all Israel together on Mount Carmel 
and bring there the four hundred and fifty proph- 
ets that eat at Jezebel's table, and see what shall 
come to pass." 

Ahab dared not disobey Elijah, for he knew 
that this command was from Jehovah. There- 
fore he sent out messengers and gathered all the 
people of Israel and the four hundred and fifty 
priests of Baal at Mount Carmel, there to meet 
Elijah. 

When they were all assembled, Elijah spoke, 
"How long," said he, "will you go about halting 
between two sides? If the Lord be God follow 
him, but if Baal be your god then follow him." 
But not one spoke in answer to Elijah's question. 
Then he challenged them: "I am here alone," he 
said, "the only prophet of God among you. All 
the rest are prophets of Baal. There are four 
hundred and fifty of them present. Let us try a 
test between us. We will take two bullocks, and 
each side will choose one animal; first the priests 
of Baal shall prepare meat and lay it upon wood 
and put no fire under. Then I will take the other 
and prepare the meat and lay it on the wood and 
put no fire under. First, let them call upon their 
god ; then I will call upon the name of the Lord : 

147 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

and the God that answereth by fire, let him be 
your God." 

At this the people answered Elijah and said, 
"It is well spoken." Then Elijah said to the 
prophets of Baal, "There are many of you; call 
upon your god first." 

The prophets of Baal prepared their meat and 
put it on the wood and put no fire under, and 
began calling upon the name of their god. From 
morning until noon they cried, "O Baal, hear 
us !" but there was no answering fire. All after- 
noon their cries rang out louder and louder, and 
finally they whirled about the altar wildly and 
cut themselves with knives in their frenzy, shriek- 
ing vainly, "O Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear us!" 

At last Elijah said, "He may be asleep, or gone 
on a journey, or he may be thinking about some- 
thing else. Cry aloud to him, for he is your god." 

This only made them cry more loudly, "O Baal, 
hear us! O Baal, hear us!" 

The afternoon wore into evening and the time 
for sunset had come, and no fire came down upon 
the bullock of the priests of Baal. 

Then came Elijah's turn. He told the people 
to come near enough to see everything he did so 
they could be sure that no trick was being played. 
First he repaired the altar of Jehovah which had 
been broken down at Jezebel's command. He 
put back the twelve stones which stood for the 
memorial to God's goodness to the twelve tribes 
of Israel; then he dug a trench around the altar 

148 



A TEST ON A MOUNTAIN 

deep enough to hold much water, and after this 
he placed the wood in order, and prepared the 
meat to lay upon the wood. Then he said to some 
of the people who stood near, "Fill four jars with 
water and pour it over the meat and the wood." 
They obeyed him. "Do it a second time," he com- 
manded. Again they obeyed him. "Do it a third 
time," he said, and when they did it the third time 
the water ran down over the sides of the altar and 
into the trench and the whole place was drenched. 
Then Elijah mounted to the place of the altar 
while all the multitude gazed in silence. 
Elijah prayed: 

"O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of 
Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God 
in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I 
have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, 
O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that 
thou, Lord, art God, and that thou hast turned their 
heart back again." 

Then Elijah stood silent. Instantly the fire 
came down in a streak from the heavens, the fire 
from Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts. It consumed 
the meat, the wood, the stone, and the dust, and 
licked up all the water in the trench. 

The people were overcome with awe and they 
fell upon the ground and bowed their faces in 
the dust crying out, "The Lord, he is God; the 
Lord, he is God." 

Then Elijah turned to Ahab and said, "Get 
149 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

thee up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of 
abundance of rain." 

Elijah stood on Mount Carmel with his young 
servant, and prayed to God to send the rain 
quickly. From time to time he lifted his face 
from the ground and said to his servant, "Go 
up now, look toward the sea," hoping that he 
would come back with news of the approaching 
rain. But the servant took six trips to the west- 
ern side of the mountain and brought no tidings 
of rain. Finally on the seventh trip he saw a 
tiny cloud on the horizon, and he returned to 
Elijah and said, "Behold, there ariseth a cloud 
out of the sea, as small as a man's hand." At this 
Elijah cried, "Go tell Ahab to make ready his 
chariot and get to the city before the rain over- 
takes him!" 

While the servant was going with this message 
the wind began to blow, and the clouds spread 
over the sky, and Elijah girded his robe about 
him and began to run to a place of safety. He 
passed Ahab on the way, driving furiously in his 
chariot, but on and on he ran, outdistancing the 
horses for fifteen miles and he reached the city 
gates ahead of Ahab. 

Study Topics 

1. How long a time had elapsed since Elijah 
had warned of the drought? How were 
the people in Ahab's kingdom faring by 
this time? 

150 



A TEST ON A MOUNTAIN 

2. Where had Elijah been all this time? De- 

scribe the meeting of Elijah and Obadiah. 

3. What test did Elijah propose to decide 

whether the people should serve Baal or 
Jehovah ? 

4. Describe the carrying out of the test between 

Elijah and the priests of Baal. 

5. Do you think that Elijah with his high 

courage helped mark out the Trail which 
we should follow? What other qualities 
besides courage do you especially admire 
about him? 

6. Write out in your own words what you 

think was the reason for Elijah's triumph 
on Mount Carmel. 



151 



CHAPTER XXI 
FOLLOWING A GREAT LEADER 

A young man was plowing in one of his 
father's fields. With the greatest ease and skill 
he guided the twelve yoke of oxen which were 
hitched to the plow, for he was strong and active, 
and trained to the task which he was doing. As 
he walked up and down between the furrows he 
might have looked over the vast stretch of fertile 
land, and dreamed of what he would do to im- 
prove it when it became all his own, for he knew 
well enough that he would one day inherit his 
father's wealth. He had many friends, for he 
was a friendly young man, and his father's house 
was noted for its hospitality. 

Down the road came a man past middle life but 
with a look of strength and vigor which proved 
him to be an outdoor person. He wore a garment 
made of the skins of animals and around his waist 
was a leather girdle. On his arm he carried an 
extra cloak made of skins. He came into the 
field where the young man was plowing and, 
walking up to him, threw the extra cloak around 
the young farmer's shoulders. That was enough, 
the plowman understood; he had been called to 
follow the great man who had honored him by 

152 



POLLOWING A GREAT LEADER 

entering his father's field. He understood as well 
as if the stranger had said: "I am about to lay- 
down my work as the prophet of God ; you are to 
take my place; come with me and learn the way 
of the prophet." 

The young man had much to leave if he should 
obey this silent summons. Parents, home, friends, 
riches," popularity must be exchanged for a life 
of danger, and ministry to others, and study in 
the school of the prophets. Could he make the 
exchange? But the young man did not hesitate. 
He only said, "I will go home and kiss my father 
and my mother and tell my friends good-by and 
then I will come after thee." 

Thus was Elisha chosen to go with Elijah and 
learn the way of the prophets. 

Many years did Elijah and Elisha live to- 
gether, and each day Elisha learned more about 
the duties of a prophet of God. 

At the end of ten years Elijah said to Elisha 
one day, "I am going on a journey to Bethel, for 
God hath sent me there." 

"I will go with you," said Elisha, for Elijah 
was growing old and Elisha did not want him 
to take such a long journey alone. So Elisha 
walked by the side of Elijah, on beyond Bethel, 
for Elijah decided to go on to Jericho, and down 
to the banks of the Jordan River. When they 
came to the ford of the river, Elijah took off the 
prophet's mantle which he always wore, and 
wrapped it together and struck the waters with it. 

153 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

At once the waters parted as they had done when 
the children of Israel crossed this stream so many 
years before, and Elijah and Elisha walked 
through the stream bed on dry ground. When 
they came to the opposite bank Elijah said to 
Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for thee, before I 
be taken from thee." And Elisha said, "Let a 
double portion of thy spirit be upon me." This 
was as if Elisha had asked that he should be able 
to do the work of the prophet in the same noble 
spirit in which Elijah had performed his work. 

Elijah's answer was something like this: "You 
will be able to do it if you will remember me after 
my presence is taken from your sight." 

While they stood talking a beautiful thing 
came to pass. There appeared in the sky above 
them a chariot of fire, drawn by horses of fire, and 
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into the chariot 
and was carried into heaven, and as Elisha saw it 
he cried, "My father, my father, the chariots of 
Israel and the horsemen thereof!" 

The mantle of Elijah fell from his shoulders 
as the chariot mounted into heaven, and Elisha 
picked it up and walked slowly back to the ford 
of the river. 

As he stood by the Jordan holding the mantle 
on his arm Elisha prayed aloud to Jehovah and 
asked that the blessing might rest upon him, even 
as it had rested upon Elijah all the days of his 
life. He was compelled to cross the river to get 
back home, so Elisha wrapped the mantle to- 

154 



FOLLOWING A GREAT LEADER 

gether and struck the waters as Elijah had done 
when they crossed over, and at once the waters 
parted, and Elisha passed through the river on 
dry ground on his way home. By this sign Elisha 
knew that he was to go forward with the work of 
Elijah, performing great deeds as he had done in 
the strength of the Lord. Thus Elisha became 
the prophet in Elijah's stead. 

"How I wish that our master could go to the 
prophet of God who lives in my native land! 
Then I think he could be cured of the disease 
which is destroying him. The prophet has done 
so many wonderful deeds that the whole country 
rings with his fame. O if my master would only 
go to him!" 

All this was being said by a little Hebrew 
maiden who had been carried away captive into 
Syria, when the Syrian army had conquered the 
army of Israel. She had been treated kindly in 
the home where she had been sent to serve, and 
she loved her, master, Naamah, a captain of the 
Syrian army, because he had been very kind to 
her. As she had lived in Naaman's family she 
had learned of the great sorrow that kept her 
mistress sad at heart. It was because Naaman 
had a disease called leprosy which no doctor could 
cure. 

The maid had seen some of the wonderful cures 
wrought by Elisha, the prophet in Israel, through 
the power of God, and she longed to have her 

155 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

master go to the prophet. When Naaman's wife 
told of what the little maid had said, news of it 
came to the ears of the king of Syria. Now the 
king loved Naaman and valued him as a soldier, 
so he decided at once to send Naaman into 
Samaria to try the remedy at the hands of the 
prophet. He wrote a letter to the king in Sama- 
ria, whose name was Jehoram, telling him why 
Naaman was coming and asking that he be cured. 

When Jehoram read the letter he wrung his 
hands and moaned. He forgot all about the 
prophet of God in Samaria, and thought that he 
was expected to cure Naaman himself, for the 
letter read, "I have sent Naaman, my servant, to 
thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy." 

Jehoram cried out in despair, "Am I God, to 
kill and to make alive, that this man doth send 
unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?" In 
fact, Jehoram thought it was just a plot on the 
part of Benhadad, king of Syria, to start a quar- 
rel which would grow into a war, for Benhadad 
was much more powerful than Jehoram. 

Elisha, who was sitting quietly in his house, 
heard how the king was acting, and that he was 
overcome with terror at the strange letter which 
he had received. Then Elisha sent this message 
to King Jehoram, "Wherefore hast thou rent thy 
clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall 
know that there is a prophet in Israel." 

When Naaman arrived in Samaria it was a 
splendid sight to see. He had horses and chari- 

156 



FOLLOWING A GREAT LEADER 

ots, attendants and soldiers in his train, for the 
king had sent him off in great state as one of his 
favorites should be equipped. He was directed 
to go to Elisha's house. Perhaps he thought it 
would be a splendid mansion such as he imagined 
a great man should live in, but if he did think this, 
he was disappointed, for Elisha lived very mod- 
estly in a plain house of his own. Naaman drove 
up to the door and called for the prophet, but 
Elisha, instead of coming out to meet Naaman 
himself, sent one of his messengers with these 
directions for Naaman, "Go and wash in the 
river Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall 
come again to you and you shall be healed/' 

Naaman was indignant. As he was a man of 
such importance in his own country, a favorite of 
the king himself, he had expected that the prophet 
would come out to him saying mysterious words 
and laying his hands upon him to perform the 
miracle of healing. Instead of all this he had 
simply sent a messenger, saying, "Go wash in 
the Jordan seven times." Naaman felt that he 
had not been treated with the proper respect, and 
he turned to his attendants and said: "Behold, I 
thought he would surely come out to me and 
stand and call upon the name of Jehovah, his 
God, and wave his hand over the place and cure 
the leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the 
rivers in my own land, better than all the rivers 
in this land? I could wash in them and be 
cleansed." And Naaman turned around and was 

157 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

going home. But his servants loved him and 
could not bear to have him give up this chance 
to be cured, so they begged him to try it. They 
said, "If the prophet had told thee to do some 
great thing, wouldst thou not have done it ? Why 
not then do the simple thing which he has directed 
thee to do?" 

Naaman was pleased that his own servants 
cared so much about his cure, so he let them per- 
suade him to try the Jordan River. They went 
down with him to the water's edge. Six times 
did Naaman dip in the river and nothing hap- 
pened, but when he went down the seventh time 
his flesh became as fair and clean as a child's, and 
he was completely cured of his leprosy. 

With all his splendid procession he turned and 
went back to the house of the prophet. This time 
he got down from his chariot and went in to the 
prophet and said, "Behold now I know that there 
is no God in all the earth but the God thou dost 
serve, now, therefore, I pray thee, take a present 
from thy servant in return for this wonderful 
cure." 

But Elisha did not do his deeds of kindness 
hoping to receive presents in return, for he was 
a prophet of God, and gave God the glory. All 
that he wanted was that those whom he helped 
should love and honor Jehovah. So he said to 
Naaman, "As the Lord liveth, before whom I 
stand, I will receive nothing." And Naaman 
went on his way homeward rejoicing and think- 

158 



FOLLOWING A GREAT LEADER 

ing gratefully of the little captive maid who had 
returned his kindness so wonderfully. 

Study Topics 

1. Locate on the map the country of Syria; 

locate Samaria; Dothan. 

2. Tell in review the story of how Elisha came 

to succeed Elijah as prophet. 



159 



CHAPTER XXII 
A WONDERFUL ALLY 

Benhadad, the king of Syria, was sitting in 
his palace troubled and perplexed. Strange 
things which he could not understand were tak- 
ing place in his army. He was forced to believe 
that there was a traitor in the ranks, but, so far, 
he had not succeeded in finding out who the trai- 
tor was, and his plans continued to be revealed 
to the enemy. He always failed when he was just 
on the point of gaining a victory. He had called 
a council of his officers in the army to talk this 
over. 

"Some one in the army is false to our side," he 
said to the council, "for every plan of attack which 
we undertake is made known to the king of Israel, 
and he outwits us cunningly. Search among the 
army and find the traitor, and bring him before 
me that he may meet with his just fate." 

But one of Benhadad's chief officers told such 
an astonishing thing in the council that the king 
of Syria knew not which way to turn, for the 
officer explained it in this way: "O king," he said, 
"there is no traitor among us, and for that we 
may be glad; but a stranger thing than that hap- 
pens when the king of Israel learns our plans. 

160 



A WONDERFUL ALLY 

It is some one in Israel who causes our constant 
defeats." 

"Some one in Israel!" cried Benhadad. "How 
could any one in Israel know the plans which we 
work out secretly in the council chamber?" 

"That we cannot explain, O king," answered 
the officer, "but this is certain, there is a man in 
Israel who has the power to learn whatever he 
wishes to know, and even the secret thoughts of 
this council are not hidden from him." 

"What is his name, and where may he be 
found?" inquired the king. 

"It is none other, O king, than the prophet who 
cured our captain, Naaman, of his leprosy. His 
name is Elisha, and he is a man of God. He it is 
who is able to turn aside all our plans and to re- 
veal to the king of Israel all that he desires to 
know." 

"Prophet or no prophet!" cried Benhadad, "he 
must be put out of our way at once! The next 
attack we make shall be against him, and when 
we have killed him, we can go on to victory, for 
our army is greater than theirs. This very night 
we will gather our army and go down and com- 
pass the city near the place where his house is. In 
the morning we will capture him, and the king of 
Israel will have no more plans of ours revealed to 
him. Send out spies at once, to find out exactly 
where he is, in order that we may choose a good 
position for our army." 

So the spies were sent out, and returned in a 
161 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

short time, reporting that Elisha, the man of God, 
was in Dothan, the city of the two wells, twelve 
miles from the city of Samaria, where they had 
expected to find him. 

Benhadad gave orders that the army should be 
assembled, horses and chariots, and a great com- 
pany of soldiers, to make the attack upon Elisha. 
The army moved quietly by night and took up its 
position around the walls of Dothan at the foot 
of the hill. There they waited for the morning, 
to seize Elisha. 

Early in the morning, according to his habit, 
Elisha's servant rose and began attending to the 
affairs of the household. What a sight met his 
eyes! There, encamped around the city, was a 
great army of Syrians, guarding the gates to 
make sure that no one escaped. In terror the 
servant ran in to Elisha. 

"Alas, my master," he cried, "what shall we 
do?" And Elisha answered with calmness, "Fear 
not; for they that be with us are more than they 
that be with them." 

The servant could not understand this, for he 
knew that he and Elisha were the only ones in 
the house, and he did not know where they were 
to turn for helpers. How could they withstand 
all these chariots and horsemen and soldiers ? But 
Elisha knew that so long as God was on his side 
he had nothing to fear. Elisha had seen a com- 
pany which was invisible to the servant. Now 
he asked God to let the servant see it also, 

162 



A WONDERFUL ALLY 

"Jehovah," prayed Elisha, "I pray thee, open 
his eyes that he may see." 

And God gave the young servant power to see 
what Elisha had been seeing. 

Behold the mountain above them was full of 
chariots of fire which were put round about Elisha 
to protect him. 

Elisha rose and passed right out of the city gate 
and walked toward the army of Benhadad, and 
as he walked he prayed to God for help. But 
by the time he reached the army, every Syrian sol- 
dier had been dazzled into blindness by the great 
light from the mountaintop. They did not know 
who it was that came into their midst. The 
stranger said, "This is not the city which you seek. 
Follow me and I will take you to the place where 
you should go, and you shall find the man whom 
you seek." 

The soldiers followed him, stumbling along the 
way, and he led them straight to the city of 
Samaria, where the king of Israel was quartered 
with his army. Then Elisha prayed, "Lord, open 
their eyes, that they may see." 

And God restored their sight to them, and be- 
hold they were in the city of Samaria, completely 
in the power of Jehoram, king of Israel, and 
there stood Elisha, the man of God whom they 
had planned to capture ! 

Jehoram was filled with triumph and he turned 
to Elisha and cried out, "Shall I smite them, my 
father, shall I smite them?" 

163 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

But Elisha replied, "Would you injure people 
who are helpless and in your power ? Would you 
use a bow or a sword on a captured foe? Set 
bread and water before them, let them eat and 
drink, then send them back to their own country 
unharmed." 

And Jehoram obeyed the man of God. He pre- 
pared food for the great army and then he sent 
them home. 

Thus the host which had gone out prepared to 
capture the prophet, returned home without him, 
and left him unharmed in Samaria, and their 
hearts were filled with gratitude for what he had 
done for them, in returning good for evil. 

Study Topics 

1. Memorize at least three statements from 
these beautiful words which might have 
comforted Elisha — where are these words 
found ? 

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the 
Most High 

Shall abide under the shadow of the 
Almighty. 

I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and 
fortress ; 

My God, in whom I trust. 

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by 
night, 

Nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 

For the pestilence that walketh in dark- 
ness, 

164 



A WONDERFUL ALLY 

Nor for the destruction that wasteth at 

noonday. 
For thou, O Lord, art my refuge! 
For he shall give his angels charge over 

thee, 
To keep thee in all thy ways. 
He shall call upon me, and I will answer 

him; 
I will be with him in trouble: 
I will deliver him, and honor him. 
With long life will I satisfy him, 
And show him my salvation." 

2. Read carefully this promise which Elisha 

proved to be true : 

"The angel of the Lord encampeth round 

about them that fear him, 
And delivereth them. 
Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 
Many are the afflictions of the righteous; 
But the Lord delivereth him out of them all. 
• The Lord redeemeth the soul of his 

servants; 
And none of them that trust in him shall 

be condemned." 

3. Imagine yourself the captive maid in Naa- 

man's household and tell what you would 
have said to Naaman's wife. 

4. Describe how Naaman finally was cured. 



165 



CHAPTER XXIII 
A DANGER SIGNAL ON THE TRAIL 

Amos, the wool-trader, was walking along the 
rugged road which led from the city of Jerusalem 
to his home in the hills of Tekoa. Twelve miles 
was no walk for Amos, the shepherd of the hills ; 
distance and rough travel meant nothing to a man 
accustomed to the out-of-door life which he led 
in all kinds of weather the whole year round. 
Many a night he had stayed on the bleak hills, 
listening to the howling of the wolves, and the 
whistling of the wind, as he held his stout club in 
his hand ready to protect his helpless sheep 
against the prowling wild beasts. 

When the season came round he sheared the 
wool from the backs of the sheep and took it off to 
the markets in the cities to sell or to trade. Many 
other traders from distant regions came to the 
markets where Amos traded, and he heard the 
news of the outside world in the trading season. 
Every market town in the whole region was famil- 
iar to Amos, and he was a much-traveled man for 
a shepherd who lived in the hill country. 

When he came home after a trading journey 
and took up the custom of watching his flocks by 
night, he had a great deal to think about as he 
sat through the quiet hours alone save for the 

166 



DANGER SIGNAL ON THE TRAIL 

company of his sheep and the stars which shone 
above him. Living in that rugged land where 
danger lurked in the caves and rocks because of 
the wild beasts, Amos grew into the habit of 
watching and listening and scenting danger be- 
fore it came upon him, therefore he was prepared 
beforehand to fight away the threatened harm to 
his flocks. He counted his own life as nothing 
when it came to risking it for his sheep. In fact, 
Amos did not know the meaning of fear. 

When he went up to the markets his trained 
eyes took in much that might have escaped a less 
watchful man, and his keen ears listened to the 
stories which were told around him and took in 
every word. 

This day as he trudged along the road he was 
remembering some of the things which he had 
heard on this trip. He had seen some things also 
the pictures of which stayed in his mind. He re- 
membered stone palaces, with walls of the finest 
woods inlaid with ivory ; soft couches, upon which 
the people reclined, resting on cushions made of 
the soft wool which he sold there ; rich feasts being 
served to those who reclined upon the couches; 
bowls of costly wines sparkling in the light ; gay 
music from the tabret and harp, played by the 
chief musicians, stationed under the spreading 
palm trees in the gardens ; women dressed in mag- 
nificent garments and strung with jewels; joy, 
mirth, wealth, luxury. Surely, the memory of 
all this was enough to dazzle a simple shepherd 

167 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

and make him long to have these things also! 
Why, then, should Amos frown and look so stern 
as he walked back to Tekoa? He had seen only 
ease and comfort and merriment, and they should 
have made him gay. 

But Amos had seen other things as he had 
journeyed to the cities, and the. pictures that he 
saw in his mind as he remembered these were dif- 
ferent indeed. He had seen the poor struggling 
to pay debts too heavy for them to meet, children 
crying for bread when there was none to give 
them, judges reaching out their hands for bribes 
instead of rendering justice, the strong oppress- 
ing the weak ; he had seen cruelty and want ; and 
all this in the very shadow of the luxurious 
palaces. 

Moreover, Amos had seen the people worship- 
ing idols, and he was a follower of the Lord God 
of Israel. He knew by all these signs that the 
very people who owed everything they had to the 
Lord were forsaking him in the midst of their 
prosperity. By the time he reached home his 
heart was heavy and his head was bowed in sor- 
row at his memories. 

One day not long after this as he followed his 
flocks on the hills the voice of God called to Amos, 
saying, "Go, prophesy to my people Israel." 
Amos knew that very moment that his days of 
sheep trading were over. From that time forth, 
the rest of his life, God gave him words to speak 
to the nation that was drifting into sin. 

168 



BANGER SIGNAL ON THE TRAIL 

The rich were sunning themselves in the gar- 
dens of their summer palaces. The poor were 
toiling in the heat under heavy burdens. The 
women in the royal courts were dressed in fine 
silks, and linens and embroideries. Delicate per- 
fumes were wafted on the air when they passed. 
The poor were dressed in rags, walking barefoot 
along the burning roads. As the poor women 
passed them, the rich drew aside their skirts lest 
they should be touched by the others and the poor 
cowered against the walls to make room for the 
rich to pass. The judges were sitting in the 
courts, dealing out injustice to the poor and giv- 
ing out judgments in favor of the rich. Even 
some of the prophets were saying words which 
were well-pleasing to the rich, forgetting the very 
existence of the poor. It seemed as if the whole 
world had turned away from God. 

Suddenly there appeared in Samaria a man 
from the hills, proclaiming: 

"The Lord shall roar from Zion, and utter his 
voice from Jerusalem, and the habitations of the 
shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall 
wither." 

The people were filled with anger and amaze- 
ment and would have destroyed this new prophet 
if they had dared, but he was no more afraid of 
them than he had been of the prowling beasts on 
the hills, so he continued : 

"Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and to 
169 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, 
the notable men of the chief of the nations, to 
whom the house of Israel come ! . . . That lie upon 
beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their 
couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock; . . . 
that sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; . . . 
that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves 
with the chief ointments. . . . For, behold, the Lord 
command eth." 

And Amos went on to repeat the commands 
of God in their ears. Day after day he went fear- 
lessly up and down the land crying out against 
the sins of selfishness and greed, and pleading 
with the people to repent and return unto the 
Lord, until the news of him went throughout all 
the country. 

At last, Amaziah, one of the false prophets 
who gave out prophecies in return for money, 
came out publicly against Amos and demanded: 
"Go back home where you belong, Amos, and 
earn your bread by being a prophet in the hills. 
Keep silence here in Bethel, it is the place of the 
national capital; you have no business here." 

But Amos told Amaziah that he would stay 
right there and continue to prophesy where God 
had sent him, and that, moreover, he would not 
sell his prophecies for money as Amaziah was in 
the habit of doing ; for Amos was no more afraid 
of Amaziah than he had been of the courtiers in 
Samaria. Amaziah slunk away silenced before 
Amos. 

170 



DANGER SIGNAL ON THE TRAIL 

Amos warned the people that they would be 
taken captive by a heathen enemy unless they 
turned away from the evil of their ways. He said 
if they kept on spending their days in feasting 
and their nights in drinking and dancing, and 
lolled about on soft couches most of the time, that 
they would have no strength left to fight with, 
and the enemy would come down upon them una- 
wares and capture them easily. 

Now, Amos knew that the enemies of Israel 
were watching from afar, and he had learned that 
there were plans on foot for an attack to be made 
upon them, but in spite of everything he did and 
said to warn them they paid no more attention to 
him than if he had not spoken. 

At last Amos blazed out at them and told them 
they were trying to take advantage of God. They 
knew that God had watched over and protected 
them in the past and they thought they were spe- 
cially set apart to receive favors from God and 
that nothing could harm them. Then he told 
them that God judged every man on his own rec- 
ord, and that if they disobeyed God they would 
as surely suffer as if they had never received 
blessings at his hands, and he told them also 
that they deserved to suffer more because they 
knew better. 

But they laughed him to scorn and refused to 
follow his advice, and went on living in luxury 
and ease. However, they lived to regret it, for 
God punished the people for their wickedness. 

171 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Study Topics 

1. What was the occupation of Amos? De- 

scribe the various things he had to do in 
carrying on his work. 

2. Describe some of the pictures that came into 

the mind of Amos as he was walking home 
from Jerusalem. 

3. Locate on the map Jerusalem; Tekoa; other 

towns and cities which Amos may have 
visited. 

4. What wrongs had Amos seen inflicted on 

the poor and helpless? How did he feel 
toward the oppressed? 

5. How did Amos come to drop the life of a 

shepherd and become a prophet? 

6. What were the accusations that Amos 

brought against the Israelites? 

7. Are you willing to take this pledge? — "I 

will be a good American and a good citi- 
zen of my town or community. I will do all 
I can to make it clean and healthful and 
beautiful. I will be kind and fair and 
generous to all and take advantage of 
none." 

8. If you are willing to make this pledge your 

own, study it until you can write it cor- 
rectly without looking at it. Then print 
or write it and put it where you can see 
it every day. 



172 



CHAPTER XXIV 
THE LION-HEARTED PROPHET 

"I have appointed thee a prophet unto the 
nations." 

The young man listened to the voice of the 
Lord and his heart was filled with wonder and 
awe. All his life he had wanted to be what the 
voice of the Lord now appointed him ; he desired 
above all things else to be a prophet of God. 

He had proved this by sticking to his purpose 
all of his boyhood. The boys among whom he 
had been reared had not understood how he could 
choose such a life, and he had been the target for 
much sport at their hands because of it. Some- 
times he had been lonely for this very reason, and 
he had been left out of some of the good times 
when he found it necessary to study if he was to 
reach his goal. 

But finally he knew the history of his time as 
no other young man in the country, and his words 
had a ring of sincerity and truth which made 
people listen to him with respect and attention. 

Jeremiah was twenty years old when the voice 
of God had called him to be a prophet. God him- 
self had said, "I have given thee to be a prophet 
unto the nations." 

Jeremiah was overcome with a sense of his 
youth and his lack of power, now that the desire 

173 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

of his heart was granted, and he was timid enough 
to reply, "Alas! Lord God, I cannot speak, for 
I am a very young man." 

But the voice of the Lord encouraged him, 
when he heard, "Say not that thou art too young; 
for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and 
whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 
Be not afraid, for I am with thee to strengthen 
thee." 

Then the Lord touched Jeremiah's lips and 
said: 

"Behold I have put my words in thy mouth : see, 
I have this day set thee over the nations and over 
the kingdom, to pluck up, and to break down, and 
to destroy, and to overthrow; to build, and to plant." 

Jeremiah knew by this that he was to go forth 
fearlessly, fighting the evil in the world, and 
building up and strengthening the good, and he 
was not afraid to do anything if it were done in 
the name of the Lord God of hosts. 

It was thus that Jeremiah entered upon a life 
marked by unfaltering courage, splendid daring, 
and unbroken faithfulness to his calling, and 
there was never another prophet just like him in 
the pages of history. From the very day that 
God chose him to be a prophet he felt that he must 
tell the truth about the lives of the people, whether 
it sounded pleasant in their ears or not, for so 
long as he was serving the Lord, he must serve in 
spirit and in truth. 

174 



THE LION-HEARTED PROPHET 

In those days the people who had been so won- 
derfully led back to the Marked Trail by the 
guiding hand of God, were in danger of losing 
the way again. When they had been in bondage 
in Egypt it had been through no fault of their 
own, and God had heard their cry of distress and 
had delivered them. But many years had passed 
since then and the children and grandchildren 
and great-grandchildren of the people who had 
followed Joshua into the Promised Land, where 
they lived in the midst of plenty, had drifted away 
from God, until at the time Jeremiah was called 
to be a prophet they were almost lost in idolatry 
and sin. 

Jeremiah knew that if the people did not 
change their ways they would be taken captive 
by the heathen nations which surrounded them. 
So his mission as a prophet was to warn and to 
plead and to remind the chosen people of their 
debt of gratitude to God. He cried aloud against 
their sins and begged them to listen to the mes- 
sages from God. 

Only one with the courage of a lion and a heart 
burning with love for his nation would have dared 
to brave the dangers which faced Jeremiah. 
Many a time did he find comfort in remembering 
the words which God had spoken on the day when 
he was called to be a prophet, and God never 
failed him. "For I am with thee" rang in his 
ears in many a dark time. As he went before the 
courts of kings and in the midst of the great 

175 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

throngs on the highways, or to the councils of the 
rulers, he spoke so wonderfully that the wicked 
feared the very sight of him, for they knew that 
he spoke the truth. 

At last when he had pleaded in vain for years 
and the people went on in the ways of sin, Jere- 
miah gave out this awful prophecy, "For three 
and twenty years have I spoken unto you the 
words given to me by the Lord, but you have not 
hearkened to me, nor to any other prophet of the 
Lord God, therefore, thus saith the Lord, 'Be- 
cause you have not heard my words, Nebuchad- 
nezzar, king of Babylon, shall come against this 
land, and this nation shall serve the king of Baby- 
lon seventy years.' " 

The priests and the people were filled with rage 
when Jeremiah made this prophecy, and they 
seized him and said, "Thou shalt surely die for 
thy evil words." 

Then they called together a council of the 
princes and the priests and the false prophets, 
who said just what the kings wanted them to 
say, and decided to try Jeremiah in a court. They 
held the court by the entrance of the house of the 
Lord. One after another rose and spoke against 
the prophet. "This man ought to be put to death 
for saying that the city will be destroyed and 
that the people will be carried away captive," 
they said. 

When they had finished speaking Jeremiah 
rose to testify for himself. He said, "The Lord 

176 



THE LION-HEARTED PROPHET 

sent me to prophesy against this city all the words 
that you have heard. Therefore now amend your 
ways and your doings and obey the voice of the 
Lord your God ; and the Lord will turn away the 
evil which he hath pronounced against you. As 
for me, behold I am in your power, do with me 
as you wish, but know you for certain, that if you 
put me io death you will surely bring innocent 
blood upon yourselves, and upon this city and 
upon the inhabitants thereof; for of a truth the 
Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these 
words in your ears." 

Then the council decided that Jeremiah had 
done nothing deserving of death. He kept right 
on in the path of duty, although he knew that the 
false prophets and the priest's who feared the 
rulers were lying in wait for him every time he 
spoke. 

At last Jeremiah left Jerusalem and went down 
to live in the land of Benjamin, and one day as 
he was sitting in the gate of the city, by an awful 
mistake he was accused of being a traitor, and 
when Jeremiah tried to explain, the captain who 
had seized him insisted that he was on the side of 
the enemy, and dragged the prophet before the 
princes, who sentenced him to be cast into a dun- 
geon. So the great Jeremiah was thrown into a 
dungeon and there he stayed until one day when 
the enemy pressed upon the king so sorely that 
the king felt he must ask counsel of Jeremiah, 
for he knew the man of God would tell the truth. 

177 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

So Zedekiah, the king, sent for Jeremiah to be 
brought secretly into his presence that he might 
ask if there was any hope for the army to gain 
a victory. Jeremiah knew if he told Zedekiah 
something pleasant, whether it were true or not, 
that he would be set free ; and he also knew if he 
told the plain truth that he would be sent back 
to his prison cell and probably be killed, but he 
was determined to speak the truth. So when 
Zedekiah asked, "Is there any word from the 
Lord?" Jeremiah answered boldly, "There is; 
for thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the 
enemy king of Babylon. Moreover, what have I 
done against you or against your servants, or 
against the people, that I should be put in prison? 
Where are your false prophets who said that the 
king of Babylon would not come up against you? 
I beg of you, O king, not to return me to this 
dungeon, or I shall die." 

Zedekiah listened respectfully to Jeremiah, al- 
though the message which he brought was ex- 
actly what he did not want to hear, and he com- 
manded that the prophet should be taken to the 
sentries' house and treated kindly and be given 
wholesome food to eat. 

Here, in the sentries' house, Jeremiah contin- 
ued to preach and to prophesy, urging the people 
to turn away from idols. News of his prophecies 
came to Zedekiah again, and the people de- 
manded, "Let this man be put to death, for he 
makes the hearts of our soldiers weak by his 

178 



THE LION-HEARTED PROPHET 

words." Zedekiah was weak enough to do any- 
thing that pleased the people, just so long as he 
was not held accountable for anything that hap- 
pened to the prophet of God, so he told the people 
to take the matter into their own hands. They 
tied Jeremiah with cords and let him down into 
a cistern from which the water had been drawn, 
which had deep mire in the bottom ; and the brave 
prophet sank in the mire. But it chanced that one 
of Zedekiah's colored servants found out about 
this, and he came right in before the king and 
cried: "O king, these men have done evil in all 
they have done to Jeremiah, the prophet, whom 
they have cast into the pit. He is about to die." 

Zedekiah gave the servant permission to rescue 
the prophet, and commanded, "Take thirty men 
with you, and take up Jeremiah, the prophet, out 
of the dungeon before he dies." 

So the servant went with the helpers, and they 
tied cloths together to make a rope, which they 
let down into the cistern. "Tie it under your 
arms!" they called down to him. Then they all 
pulled together and drew the exhausted prophet 
out of the cistern, and took him back to the sen- 
tries' house, where he was well cared for. 

A little while after this the stealthy Zedekiah 
sent for Jeremiah to meet him secretly again, and 
the prophet came to the secret passage where the 
king was, to meet him. 

"Tell me everything," urged Zedekiah; "keep 
nothing from me." 

179 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

"If I should tell you all that I know," an- 
swered Jeremiah, "you would put me to death 
at once." 

"As the Lord liveth," declared Zedekiah, "I 
will not put thee to death, neither will I deliver 
thee to the hand of thy enemies." 

"If thou wilt surrender to the king of Baby- 
lon, while there is time," said Jeremiah, "thou 
shalt be mercifully treated and the city will not 
be destroyed with fire, and thy life and the lives 
of all thy family shall be spared ; but if thou wilt 
not surrender, the city shall fall into the hands 
of the enemy; it shall be burned, and thou, thy- 
self, shalt not escape." 

"But I am afraid to surrender," said Zedekiah, 
"for I do not know what my own soldiers would 
do to me if they found out I was going to do it." 

"Do not be afraid," urged Jeremiah, "for the 
sake of the women, and the children, and the help- 
less aged ones, listen to my counsel and surrender 
now. This is a warning sent to you from the 
Lord God." 

But Zedekiah refused to take Jeremiah's ad- 
vice. Every word which the prophet had foretold 
came to pass. The beautiful city of Jerusalem 
was captured and laid waste with fire. Zedekiah 
was taken into Babylon. The royal palace was 
razed to the ground, the walls were broken down, 
and the descendants of the children of Israel were 
carried away. 

But even the king of Babylon had heard of the 
180 



THE LION-HEARTED PROPHET 

fearlessness and sufferings of the prophet Jere- 
miah, and there in the country of the enemy, the 
man of God was kindly treated, for the king gave 
command to one of his captains, saying: "Take 
the prophet and look well to him, and see that no 
harm comes to him. Do for him whatever he 
asks." 

So Jeremiah was taken to live in the house of 
his friend Gedaliah, who was left in charge of the 
king's affairs in his beloved city of Jerusalem, 
and there he lived, treated with the greatest re- 
spect near the royal palace. 

Study Topics 

1. Read that part of the story of Jeremiah told 

in Jeremiah 38. 1-13. 

2. What did the voice of God call Jeremiah to 

do ? Does God ever call men in these days 
to lead and warn others ? 

3. How did Jeremiah's people respond to his 

warning? What punishment did Jere- 
miah tell them would come upon them? 

4. Tell the story of the trial of Jeremiah. How 

did he finally come to be cast into prison? 

5. Tell the story of the attack on Jeremiah 

which ended in his being thrown into a 
cistern. 

6. Did the prophecies which Jeremiah had 

made come true? 

7. Write three things in Jeremiah's character 

which you would like to have in your own. 
181 



CHAPTER XXV 
A MESSAGE OF HOPE AND JOY 

There was once a boy who grew up during 
times of war. One of the most familiar sights of 
his childhood was the army going forth to battle. 
The return of the soldiers rilled him with joy, for 
then it was that he heard the tales of the great 
battles, and he never grew tired of them. In this 
way he learned as much of the history of his people 
as he ever learned in school, for as he listened to 
the war stories he found out why the soldiers 
went to battle, what they hoped to gain if they 
were victorious, and what they had to lose if they 
were defeated. He knew the geography of the 
country as well as any other boy of his time, for 
he learned this also as he listened to the soldiers 
tell of boundary lines, and territory, and con- 
quered regions. Besides all this, he had heard 
the great prophet Jeremiah telling what would 
come to pass, and how his nation should be car- 
ried away into another land. And the words of 
Jeremiah, the lion-hearted, had made a great im- 
pression upon this boy who in his heart was a 
hero-worshiper. 

One day, while he was still a young man, the 
sad news came that ten thousand of the best 

182 



A MESSAGE OF HOPE AND JOY 

people of the nation, including the king and many 
of his trusted followers, were to be carried away 
into Babylon to serve the king Nebuchadrezzar. 

Ezekiel himself as a youth of great ability was 
one of the number transported into Babylon. 
Nebuchadrezzar was by no means a tyrant. He 
treated his captives kindly, and gave them many 
privileges to keep them from being more unhappy 
than necessary. He set up a colony for them by 
the river Chebar, and put the craftsmen at work 
building the masonry on a canal. He permitted 
them to have their own little government, and 
they suffered none of the terrible hardships which 
the people in Egypt had suffered under the 
Pharaohs. 

Ezekiel was appointed a watchman to go up 
and down among the people, keeping up their 
courage and speaking words of cheer in their ears. 

He performed his duties faithfully, living in his 
own house by the. river, with his very beautiful 
wife, whom he deeply loved. As the years went 
by, the young man developed into a poet, and by 
the time he was thirty years old his poetry was 
known and loved by all the captive Israelites in 
Babylon. 

But one day as he walked by the river Chebar, 
on his way to cheer the workmen, he had a won- 
derful experience. He had a vision in the bright 
light of day, among the crowd of workmen. Per- 
haps his poet's power helped him to see the vision 
clearly, but, however that may be, he was the only 

183 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

one who saw it. It seemed to Ezekiel that the 
heavens opened and he saw a throne of light shin- 
ing like a sparkling sapphire. On the throne sat 
one in the likeness of a man, and around him 
glowed a light like amber. A circle of rainbow 
colors went around this band of amber, and the 
glory of the Lord shone from the midst of it. 
Ezekiel fell to the ground and buried his face in 
his hands. Then a voice came from the heavens 
saying, "Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and 
I will speak with thee." 

Then God gave Ezekiel the power to under- 
stand that he was chosen to be a prophet of the 
Lord, to go to the people with a message unlike 
any of the messages which had been delivered by 
the other prophets. While others had prophesied 
of warning and of doom, he was to prophesy of 
good days to come, and bring hope and cheer to 
the homesick and stricken captives. 

Being a poet helped Ezekiel wonderfully to 
bring his messages in beautiful words. Even with 
Ezekiel, however, there were some who would not 
listen. They thought anything in the form of 
poetry was foolish, and they mocked at him, so 
they missed the comfort which came to those who 
understood and believed in dreams and hopes. 
For twelve years Ezekiel continued to prophesy 
that good times were ahead, and that God would 
give them prosperity in their own land in the 
years to come. 

Then suddenly one day this strange cry was 
184 




EZEKIEL 

(From Sargent's Frieze of the Prophets) 



A MESSAGE OF HOPE AND JOY 

heard in their midst: "The beautiful city of Jeru- 
salem is entirely destroyed. The great walls are 
broken down. The temple is laid in the dust. All 
the people have fled for their lives and we alone 
are left to tell the sad story. We have escaped 
with our lives at great peril, but the king and all 
the rest have been carried away by the enemy. 
Would that we had listened to the warnings of 
the prophet Jeremiah, then might we have fared 
as well as you who came into Babylon without 
resistance. You have food and to spare, and live 
in your own homes, and feel no oppression of the 
enemy. It is we who were led by the false coun- 
sels of Zedekiah who have suffered thus. Would 
that we had been chosen to come into Babylon 
with you!" 

Fugitives from the city of Jerusalem had made 
their way to the colony by the river Chebar, 
where they had news they might find the captives 
from their native land. Through many weary 
days and lonely nights they had been traveling in 
their effort to reach there with their sad lament. 

When the exiles by the river Chebar heard this 
sad story they sat down in despair. Through all 
the days that they had been working by the river, 
although they had been treated kindly by the 
king, they had been buoyed by the hope that one 
day they would return to the city of Jerusalem 
and take up life again in their native land. Now 
the beautiful city was destroyed and in the hands 
of the aliens, they never could realize their hopes. 

185 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Alas ! if they never had turned away from God 
in the first place, if they never had left the 
Marked Trail, they would be living in their own 
beautiful country in peace and plenty! For the 
first time in all these years they understood how 
ungrateful and wicked they had been in turning 
away from the Lord. They sat down and wept 
and despair overcame them. 

It was thus that Ezekiel found them when he 
came out to make his daily rounds among the 
workmen. He was filled with sorrow for them 
and he took the matter to God. 

Then God gave Ezekiel a joyful message to 
the people, to put new hope into them and to 
strengthen them for the work which still lay 
ahead of them. God told Ezekiel to tell the 
people that he would deliver them from their cap- 
tivity and bring them back to the beautiful city 
of Jerusalem, and that it should be restored to all 
its former beauty, and the walls should be rebuilt. 

Ezekiel said: "Thus saith the Lord God: 

"Behold I, myself, even I, will search for my sheep, 
and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh 
out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep 
that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my 
sheep and I will deliver them out of all places 
whither they have been scattered in the cloudy 
and dark day. And I will bring them out from 
the peoples, and gather them from the countries, 
and will bring them to their own land; and I will 
feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the 

186 



A MESSAGE OF HOPE AND JOY 

water courses, and in all the inhabited places of 
the country. I will feed them with good pas- 
ture, . . . and they shall lie down in a good fold 

I will seek that which was lost, and will bring again 
that which was driven away, and I will bind up that 
which was broken, and will strengthen that which 

was sick And I, the Lord, will be their God 

And I will make with them a covenant of peace, . . . 
and I will make them ... a blessing; . . . there shall 
be showers of blessing. . . . And they shall know 
that I the Lord their God am with them, and that 
they, the house of Israel, are my people, . . . and 
I am your God." 

This time all the people believed in Ezekiel and 
listened to his words of hope and cheer, and from 
that time on, they looked to him to bring them 
courage and hope as they looked forward to that 
day when the Lord in his good time would make 
his promises come true. The pictures which Eze- 
kiel made with his words helped them to see the 
good times coming and to believe that it would all 
come to pass. He pictured the new city, the new 
temple, the new walls, the new courts, and the 
new entrances, and they imagined themselves 
already there. So they were able to go on with 
the days which remained to them in Babylon. 
Ezekiel was given the name of the "Prophet of 
Hope," because he kept alive hope in the hearts 
of the people until their hopes were fulfilled. 

Study Topics 

1. Find on the map the country of Babylon 
187 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

where the Israelites had been carried by 
King Nebuchadnezzar as Jeremiah had 
foretold. 

2. Tell of the experiences which Ezekiel had 

and what he saw and heard in his vision. 

3. Tell the story which the messengers brought 

of the destruction of Jerusalem. Why 
were the people so much oppressed when 
they heard what had happened to Jeru- 
salem? 

4. What was the message which God sent by 

Ezekiel to comfort them? Search out the 
part of this message you like best and 
memorize it. 

5. Read these words from Longfellow's poem 

"The Builders" and tell what you think 
they mean : 

"All are architects of Fate, 

Working in these walls of Time; 

Some with massive deeds and great, 

Some with ornaments of rhyme. 

"Nothing useless is, or low; 

Each thing in its place is best; 
And what seems like idle show 

Strengthens and supports the rest. 

"For the structure that we raise, 
Time is with materials filled; 
Our to-days and yesterdays 

Are the blocks with which we build." 



188 



CHAPTER XXVI 
A PATRIOT IN THE VALLEY 

Once there lived in the lower part of the city 
of Jerusalem a man whose home was called "The 
Valley of Vision." His name was Isaiah, and 
it was because he was a man of vision, that they 
called his home by this name. He had the power 
of finding the hidden meanings in daily events 
and of foretelling things that should come to 
pass. 

Isaiah had a very happy home, and his splendid 
wife and two little boys were greatly beloved by 
him. His wife had the gift of vision, or under- 
standing, also, and helped him much in his work 
among the people. His duties often took him 
away from home for long seasons, and he always 
rejoiced to get back to his family. 

But he loved his nation even more than he loved 
his own ease and happiness, and if he was called 
to leave his family in carrying out the work to 
which God had appointed him he went cheerfully 
and willingly. He was a great preacher, and he 
preached such powerful sermons that the fame of 
his eloquence spread all through the country 
where he lived. He kept his eyes open to the 
beauties of nature, and observed all the things 

189 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

that went on about him so closely that when he 
preached to this company or to that he could al- 
ways use the illustration that would be fitted to 
their understanding. If he was among the vine- 
dressers, he would begin a sermon like this : 

"Now I will sing a song of the vineyard" — and 
he would have their attention and interest from 
the start. Before he had finished that song of the 
vineyard, however, Isaiah might be likely to let 
them see a picture of themselves, for he would say, 
"For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the 
house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleas- 
ant plant." 

Sometimes when he was preaching in the farm- 
ing districts he would use words like these : "And 
it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth his 
standing corn, and his arm reapeth the ears." 

Or, if he were out among the shepherds, he 
would address them this way: "Like as the lion 
growleth and the young lion over his prey, if 
a multitude of shepherds is called forth against 
him," and they knew that he understood how 
many dangers a shepherd must encounter if he is 
to be a good shepherd and protect his sheep, and 
they would want to hear what else he had to say. 

When he was in the cities and went to the fac- 
tories he was not at a loss for an opening to his 
sermons. If he were among the potters he would 
say, "And he shall break it as a potter's vessel 
is broken"; and they had all had experience with 
breaking the precious articles which they molded, 

190 




COPYRIGHT tSOS SY 



THE MESSENGERS TO ISAIAH 



A PATRIOT IN THE VALLEY 

either by accident, or on purpose to make them 
over because they needed correcting, and they 
would listen to see what kind of a sermon he 
would get out of that. 

Once he went to a district where they had suf- 
fered through a terrible forest fire, and he made a 
sermon out of that chapter in their history. He 
said, "For wickedness burneth as the fire; it de- 
voureth the briers and thorns : yea, it kindleth in 
the thickets in the forest, and they roll upward 
in thick clouds of smoke" — and the people never 
forgot the sermon which he preached on that text. 
If there came an earthquake or a whirlwind, or a 
thunderstorm, the man of vision could always 
find some hidden meaning in it all, and he would 
tell the people what he saw. 

When Isaiah was a young man he had a vision 
much as Ezekiel had, but his vision came one 
day when he was in the temple, and that day God 
called him to be a prophet preacher. In writ- 
ing about this experience in after years, Isaiah 
said: "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high 
and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. . . . 
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom 
shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said 
I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go." 

Thus did Isaiah become a prophet of the Lord. 
And it was for this reason that his duties called 
him away from his happy home so much of the 
time and that he was so tireless in his work. As 
he went to and fro among the people and learned 

191 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

the innermost history of their lives his heart was 
consumed with a desire to bring comfort to the 
sorrowing, light to the darkened, and rest to the 
suffering. He loved little children; perhaps he 
loved them more dearly because he had two little 
boys in his own home, but he wanted the children 
to be happy, and the young men and maidens to 
be blessed. He had the same feeling toward his 
nation that a brother has toward the ones in his 
own family. He felt that what the people needed 
was a great-hearted brother who would under- 
stand their needs and minister to each one in the 
right way. While he longed to do this himself, 
he knew that he was not great enough to under- 
stand each one, however willing his heart might 
be. Then sometimes when he would come home 
with his soul stirred for the little children, he 
would look at his own children and wonder if 
one of them would ever grow up to be the great- 
hearted brother for whom the world had^such 
need. He was always longing for a better day 
to come. 

While this desire was warm in his heart God 
gave him a promise and a message to the world. 
God let Isaiah look into the years to come, and 
see that the One for whom he longed should come 
to the earth some day, and be a brother to the 
whole world. God told him that the helper should 
come as a little baby who would grow up among 
the people and understand them just as God him- 
self understands every one on the earth. 

132 



A PATRIOT IN THE VALLEY 

Isaiah did not keep this good news to himself, 
but out of the fullness of his heart he sang it to 
the people, saying: 

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is 
given : and the government shall be upon his shoul- 
der: and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Fa- 
ttier, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of 
his government and peace there shall be no end, 
upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, 
to order it, to establish it with judgment and with 
justice, from henceforth even forever. 

"And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, 
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit 
of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and 
of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of 
quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: for 
the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea. I will trust, 
and not be afraid: For the Lord Jehovah is my 
strength and my song; he also is become my sal- 
vation. Praise the Lord, call upon his name, de- 
clare his doings among the people. Make mention 
that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for 
he hath done excellent things." 

After this Isaiah preached and sang and proph- 
esied about the coming of the One who should 
bring peace and joy and comfort and salvation 
to the world. And he of whom Isaiah prophe- 
sied was Jesus, the Christ, who came to be 
Brother and Saviour to all the world. 

193 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

A Prayer for To-day 

Our heavenly Father, we thank thee that thou 
didst send thy prophet Isaiah on the earth so 
long ago to foretell the coming of the Prince of 
Peace, our own Brother and Friend ! Help us to 
help thee in bringing all that Isaiah foretold to 
come to pass, we pray thee. May we not fail thee 
in bringing joy and gladness to others. May 
we willingly run on errands of mercy. May we 
be loving and kind and obedient at home. Help 
us to grow each day in the knowledge of how to 
please thee, as thy friends and helpers on earth. 
Thou hast need of messengers to-day as truly as 
in the days of Isaiah, and we would run on will- 
ing feet to serve thee. The world needs a Brother 
now just as it did in the days of thy prophet. 
Wilt thou use us as brothers to all who need love 
and sympathy and help within our reach. Amen. 

Study Topics 

1. The story of Isaiah is so interesting and 

long that it takes sixty-six chapters in the 
Bible to tell it all. Bead the first 9 verses 
of Chapter 53, in which Isaiah is fore- 
telling about the coming of Jesus, the Mes- 
siah, and what he would endure for us. 

2. Find the part of the words of Isaiah quoted 

in the lesson which you like best (a sen- 
tence or two) and memorize them. 

3. Make in your notebook a list of the proph- 

ets of God whom we have studied. 
194 



CHAPTER XXVII 
A PROMISE FULFILLED 

The world was at peace in those days. There 
was no sound of war or battle in the whole land. 
The captives in Babylon to whom Ezekiel had 
sung songs of hope had returned to the beautiful 
city of Jerusalem ; the walls had been rebuilt and 
the wonderful temple restored. New genera- 
tions had been born and years had passed. The 
people rested from their labors, and many waited 
for the promises made by Isaiah to come true. 
He had sung that a King should come to the 
earth whose reign should never cease, who should 
reign forever and ever. So the people looked 
for the coming of the King. They thought he 
would come in great glory and sit upon a throne 
and rule the world. 

In the city of Jerusalem there lived a good man 
named Simeon who was continually looking for 
the King. He was a priest of the Lord, who min- 
istered in the temple. He too had read and stud- 
ied the words of Isaiah, the prophet, and he 
longed for the day to come when the King should 
appear. But Simeon had an unusual reason for 
expecting to see the King. God had told him that 
one day he would see the King, and recognize 
him, and that his work on earth would not be 
complete until this had come to pass. 

195 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Many different kinds of people came into the 
temple when Simeon conducted the services, and 
he was accustomed to seeing fishermen, traders, 
merchants, doctors, lawyers, tax-gatherers, kings, 
and camel-drivers in the congregations. As he 
looked over the faces of the men who came to the 
services he must have said to himself, "Would 
that I might see the face of the King among the 
worshipers to-day!" 

Simeon had a good reason to feel that he would 
not be mistaken when he saw the King, for God 
had told him he would know by the feeling in his 
heart when the real King came. So he looked 
confidently at one face after the other, but he 
could not find the King. He grew older as he 
waited, but he never gave up hope, for he knew 
God's promises could not fail. Each time that 
he went into the temple his spirit was filled with 
new expectation, and his eyes searched eagerly 
for the One whom he desired to see above all 
others. 

There was one woman who was a good friend 
to Simeon who never failed to be present at the 
temple services. She had the gift of prophecy, 
and could tell of things that would come to pass 
in the future. God had given her this power. 
She too expected the King, for she knew he 
would come some day. She and Simeon must 
have talked about this together, for she helped 
to keep the inside of the temple beautiful, and 
they must have spent many hours together. 

196 



A PROMISE FULFILLED 

Perhaps Simeon may have asked her, "When 
do you think he will come?" 

"I do not know that," she may have answered. 
"But I am sure that he will come some day, for 
God has revealed this to me." 

"If you see him first will you bring me word 
even if I am holding the temple services?" 

"I will truly do so, but you must bring the news 
to me if you should see him first." 

"What a glad day it would be if we should see 
him together!" Simeon would say. "I am grow- 
ing so old now that I must lean upon my staff 
when I go up to the temple, but I know God 
will not take me hence, until I have looked upon 
his face." 

"That is well said," Anna would reply. "Trust 
in God; he will bring it to pass." 

Then Simeon would be strengthened in hope 
and courage because of the faith of his friend. 

One day as the temple service was being held 
and Simeon was reading from the sacred scroll 
the words of the prophets, a little company of 
three was approaching Jerusalem. A strong man 
was leading a donkey on which sat a beautiful 
woman, holding a baby in her arms. How care- 
fully the man picked out the way for the donkey! 
There must be no risk of his foot turning on a 
stone, or of his stumbling into a ditch. The man 
was guarding the woman and the child as he led 
the beast so carefully along the way. Perhaps 
they talked to one another as they traveled. 

197 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

The woman may have said, "I am glad we are 
taking the little baby to-day. All the children of 
our kindred are taken to the temple when they 
are his age, and I would not fail to take him. 
You are kind to bring us so far, walking and 
leading the donkey while we ride." 

And the man may have answered, "How glad 
I am to do all that I can to help, and since God 
has given the child to you you shall decide what 
is best for him always. We will stop in the court 
outside the temple and I will buy the offering 
for the baby. Two turtle doves are appointed for 
the offering for a little one such as he is." 

"You are ever thoughtful and kind, and care- 
ful of the child and of me. The Lord shall re- 
ward you for your goodness," she may have 
replied. 

Then the mother looked down in her baby's 
face and grew silent, for she was remembering 
all the wonderful things which had happened 
when he was born. She thought of how the 
shepherds came to Bethlehem, guided by the an- 
gels ; of how the Wise Men came from afar, bring- 
ing rich gifts to him ; of the song of the angels and 
the star in the sky ; and her heart was stirred with 
the memories. 

The donkey was brought to a standstill. They 
were outside the temple. The man went forward 
to buy the offering. He came back with the two 
turtle doves, and lifted the mother and the baby 
down from the donkey's back. Then they went 

198 




HEAD OF CHRIST 

(Hofmann) 



A PROMISE FULFILLED 

inside to present the baby to the priest for the 
blessing of the Lord to be given him in the temple. 

Simeon was standing in his place by the altar. 
He had put down the roll of the Scripture and 
was waiting to see if there were any children to 
be presented in the temple that day. He saw the 
man coming down toward the altar, carrying two 
turtle doves, while a beautiful woman walked be- 
hind him carrying a little baby. They came down 
to the place where Simeon stood. The man laid 
the turtle doves on the altar, and the mother 
handed the baby to Simeon for his blessing. 

Simeon took the little one in his arms and 
looked into his face. Then such a flood of joy 
rushed over Simeon that he was speechless for a 
moment. He pressed the baby against his heart, 
and then he began to sing aloud, so that all who 
were there might hear. He sang: 

"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart, 

O Lord, 
According to thy word, in peace; 
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 
Which thou hast prepared before the face 

of all peoples; 
A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and 

the glory of thy people Israel." 

Just then the friend of Simeon, even Anna the 
prophetess, entered the temple and she came and 
cast herself at the feet of the baby and worshiped 
him, for she knew the prophecy had come to 
pass. 

199 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Then Simeon blessed the baby and handed him 
back to his mother, and Mary and Joseph turned 
and left the temple carrying with them the King 
of Glory, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, 
who had come to the earth in the form of a little 
child. 

The prophecy of Isaiah had been fulfilled. The 
Marked Trail was to be made more clear for each 
of us to follow. 

Study Topics 

1. Read in Luke 2. 22-32 the story of Mary 

and Joseph bringing the baby Jesus to the 
Temple for presentation to God. 

2. Tell the story of Simeon and Anna the 

prophetess looking for the coming of the 
One whom Isaiah had foretold. 

3. Read carefully several times this beautiful 

hymn by J. Edgar Park. See whether 
you can find who said "We would see 
Jesus," and on what occasion (in John) . 

We Would See Jesus 

"We would see Jesus, lo! his star is shining 
Above the stable while the angels sing; 
There in a manger on the hay reclining, 
Haste, let us lay our gifts before the King. 

"We would see Jesus, Mary's Son most holy, 
Light of the village life from day to day; 
Shining revealed through every task most lowly, 
The Christ of God, the Life, the Truth, the Way." 

(By permission of Congregational Sunday School and Publication Society.) 

200 



CHAPTER XXVIII 
THE PATH-FINDER 

Thousands of people traveled along the roads 
that led into Jerusalem. They were journeying 
to the temple to keep a holy anniversary. Ever 
since the days when God had delivered the Israel- 
ites from the hand of Pharaoh on the Passover 
night the descendants of those who had been de- 
livered remembered to keep this time sacred by 
praising and thanking God for his mercies which 
never fail. The Marked Trail was crowded to 
overflowing. Men, women, and children thronged 
the roads on their way to worship God in the 
Holy City. There were many joyful meetings 
among relatives and friends who had not seen one 
another for a year, and the city of Jerusalem rang 
with happiness. The little children had to stay 
very close to their parents, to keep from being 
lost in the crowds, but the older boys and girls 
who could find their way back if they should get 
separated from their elders, ran about with 
greater freedom. The temple was the central 
place from which they found all their directions 
and to which they were sure to return if they got 
lost from their own company. 

Jesus was in this great company. He had come 
201 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

up with his mother and his earthly father, Joseph, 
to the feast of the Passover, and he knew all the 
history of the people, and why the feast was kept 
as a memorial. He had grown into a tall, strong, 
healthy boy, a favorite with all who knew him in 
the city of Nazareth, where he lived. He had been 
faithful to his studies, for he was filled with wis- 
dom, and all the duties of the family which fell 
upon his shoulders had been well done. He 
pleased God in all his ways. He was twelve 
years old when Mary and Joseph brought him up 
to Jerusalem to keep the feast of the Passover, 
and it was a wonderful experience for him. 

At the close of the feast the friends and rela- 
tives said good-by, and started back home along 
the different roads. Some of the homeward- 
bound groups were very large, for all the people 
living in one district tried to travel together. Jo- 
seph and Mary were with the company which 
traveled toward Nazareth. After they had trav- 
eled a whole day's journey, they looked around 
in the company and discovered that Jesus was 
not with them. They had supposed he was some- 
where with the other boys and had not looked for 
him until the end of the day. Back and forth 
through the company they went, searching for 
him, but no trace of him could be found. Then 
in great alarm they started back to Jerusalem 
to try to find him. It took them another day to 
get back to Jerusalem, and all along the way they 
looked for him but could not find him. When 

202 



THE PATH-FINDER 

they reached the city they looked in every place 
where a boy might have been. They went to the 
market place, they looked among the caravans, 
and went to the homes of their friends, but at the 
end of the day they still had not found him. The 
next morning they started to the temple as a last 
resort, thinking that he might have wandered 
back there in search of them. When they entered 
the temple a strange sight met their eyes. There 
among the learned doctors listening eagerly to all 
they had to say, and asking questions that amazed 
them at his knowledge, stood Jesus himself. 

When his mother saw him she cried out, "Son, 
we have sought thee everywhere with anxious 
hearts." It seemed so natural to Jesus to be in 
the temple hearing about his heavenly Father and 
learning how to serve him that he was surprised 
that his mother had not known that he would be 
there as long as he could, and that he would forget 
everything else in the joy of learning more about 
his lifework, so he said, "Did you not think that 
I would be here in my Father's house?" He was 
sure his mother would understand better than 
anyone else why God's house would be the best 
place in the world to him. 

But Mary was puzzled, and so was Joseph, and 
they realized that there was something very won- 
derful about him which only God could fully 
understand. But he turned around and left the 
beautiful temple and went home with them with- 
out a murmur, and continued to be a thoughtful, 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

obedient son, and a good friend, and faithful 
schoolboy. 

Years afterward when his life had changed 
greatly and he had traveled much, he came back 
to Nazareth one day on a visit. He was over 
thirty years old at this time. He went into the 
church on the Sabbath Day, for this was his cus- 
tom wherever he might be. He was a preacher 
now, and a great one, and here in the city where 
he had been brought up he was to conduct the 
service in the church that day. There was but 
one church in Nazareth at that time and all the 
people in the place came up to the service. The 
Scripture lesson for the day was in the book of 
Isaiah the prophet, and Jesus opened it and read : 

"The spiri.t of the Lord is upon me, because he 
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; 
he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to 
preach deliverance to the captives, and recover- 
ing of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them 
that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of 
the Lord." 

Then he closed the book and sat down to 
preach, as was the custom in those days. As he 
preached the people listened in perfect amaze- 
ment, and their eyes were fastened upon him, for 
he told them that the Scripture written by Isaiah 
had come true; that the one who was to do all 
these gracious things was living on the earth at 
that moment; that the one of whom Isaiah proph- 

204 



THE PATH-FINDER 

esied was the Son of God, and that he was the 
long-promised Messiah. The people would not 
believe him, for, although they marveled at all he 
said, they remembered that he had been brought 
up in that very town, in the house of Joseph, the 
carpenter, and they said, "Is this not Joseph's 
son?" 

Jesus was filled with sadness because his own 
townspeople would not believe in him. But they 
were so filled with fury that they seized him and 
rushed him outside the city, meaning to throw 
him over the cliff and destroy him. They had 
not counted on his marvelous power, for he 
calmly parted himself from them and passed out 
of their very sight to another part of the Marked 
Trail, where he continued his work. 

A Danger Sign in the Trail 

"He came unto his own, and they that were 
his own received him not." 

Study Topics 

1. Read the story in Luke 2. 42-52 of how 

Jesus and his parents went up to Jerusa- 
lem to the Passover and how Jesus re- 
mained behind in the temple. 

2. The story of Jesus returning as a man to 

Nazareth and of the people rejecting him 
reminds us of certain words of Isaiah. 
What are they? Read the story of Jesus' 
return to Nazareth in Luke 4. 16-30, 
305 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

3. What noted picture do you know of Jesus 

in the temple? 

4. Recall the event in the history of the Israel- 

ites which was celebrated in the feast of 
the Passover. 

5. We would see Jesus, on the mountain teaching, 

With all the listening people gathered round; 
While birds and flowers and sky above are preaching 
The blessedness which simple trust has found. 

6. Write in your notebook verse 3 of "We 

Would See Jesus." 



206 



CHAPTER XXIX 
PROOFS OF POWER 

Peter, the apostle and friend of Jesus, lived 
in the city of Capernaum. On this day the people 
thronged outside of Peter's house until the yard 
was full of them. Inside there were as many as 
the house could hold. There was not even room 
to step between them. The lame, the blind, the 
deaf, the dumb, the sick in mind as well as the 
sick in body were there. There were also in the 
company those who were well, but they had all 
come for the same purpose, and that was to see 
Jesus, who was staying in Peter's house. He had 
done so many wonderful works in the short time 
that he had been preaching and healing that the 
fame of his deeds had spread throughout the land. 
After he had cured a man of leprosy, the dread 
disease which no physician could cure, the people 
talked about him more than ever. He had put 
strength into a man's withered hand, and just a 
little while before this he had cured the mother of 
Peter's wife when she was dying of a fever. It 
was no wonder that the sick and the afflicted came 
to Peter's house in such numbers hoping to be 
helped by this good Brother of mankind. 

Down the road toward Peter's house came four 
men carrying a helpless cripple on a mattress. 

207 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

They were trying to get to Jesus with their suf- 
fering friend, trusting that Jesus would lay his 
hands upon him and heal him. But there was no 
chance for them to get in where Jesus was. The 
dooryard was blocked with the crowd and there 
was no way to let Jesus know that they were 
there. But the friends would not turn back. 
They were not willing to give up if there was the 
slightest chance of getting the man into Jesus' 
presence. One of them went around to the back 
of the house where the crowd had not spread, and 
returned with a plan to propose. 

"If we could get up the steps on the outside of 
the house with him we could go out on the flat 
roof," he said. 

"What good would it do us to get on the roof?" 
asked one of them. "We would be no nearer the 
Great Physician on the roof than we are out 
here." 

"If you will follow my plan our friend will be 
right in front of Jesus," answered the man. "Are 
you willing to do as I say?" 

"We will do anything you suggest," said the 
others, "if it gives our friend any hope of being 
cured." 

"Come then," said the first man, "we will go up 
on the roof." 

So at once the four strong men picked up the 
corners of the mattress and started for the steps. 
Slowly and carefully they carried him up until 
they were on the flat roof. 

208 



-" 




Copyright, 1909, by Harold Copping 



THE LOAVES AND FISHES 



PROOFS OF POWER 

"Now watch what I shall do," said the one who 
had thought up the plan, and he began lifting off 
the loose tiles that formed the roof. "We can 
take off enough of these tiles to make a hole 
through which we can let him down into the room 
below, and when we do that he will be right in 
front of Jesus." 

"That is just the thing to do," agreed the 
others. "We will work fast so he will not get 
away before we can get our friend to him." And 
they went to work with a right good will, and in 
a short time they had made the hole large enough 
to let the man down. 

Jesus was talking to the crowd and healing the 
sick when a sudden silence fell upon the company. 
Looking up, they saw a mattress descending 
through the air, being let down by the four cor- 
ners from the roof above. On the mattress lay a 
helpless man, and four eager faces were looking 
down through a hole in the tile roof, as careful 
hands held the ropes tied to the four corners of the 
mattress. When the man reached the floor he 
was right in front of Jesus, as his friends had 
planned he should be. 

When Jesus saw the helpless man at his feet, 
and realized all that had been done to get him 
there, he knew that the man and his four friends 
all had faith in his healing power. He turned to 
the man, but he did not say nor do what the men 
were expecting. He looked lovingly at the suf- 
ferer and said, "Son, thy sins are forgiven," 

209 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

Before any one else could speak, some critics 
who had pushed their way in among the company 
to see if they could not find something that they 
could find fault with, said to themselves, because 
they did not dare to say it aloud, "Who has any 
right to forgive sins but God alone ?" 

Jesus knew what they were thinking, even 
though they had said nothing aloud, so he turned 
from the helpless man and asked them: "Why do 
you reason this way in your hearts? Which is 
easier, to claim the power to forgive sins, or the 
power to cure palsy? But in order that you may 
know that I am able to forgive sins" — and he 
turned again to the sick man before him, "I say 
unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto 
thy house." 

Immediately the man arose and rolled up his 
mattress, and walked out well and strong. He 
passed through the company who had seen the 
whole thing, and walked away toward his home. 
The people were filled with amazement and awe 
and cried to one another, "We never saw any- 
thing like this before." 

Then they believed that Jesus was filled with 
the spirit of God and that he had power to for- 
give sins. 

We Would See Jesus 

"We would see Jesus, in his work of healing, 
At eventide before the sun was set; 
Divine and human, in his deep revealing, 
Of God and man in loving service met. 
210 



PROOFS OF POWER 

"We would see Jesus, in the early morning 
Still as of old he calleth, 'Follow me*: 
Let us arise, all meaner service scorning, 

Lord, we are thine, we give ourselves to thee !" 
— J. Edgar Park. 

Study Topics 

1. The story of this lesson is told in Luke 5. 

17-26 and in Mark 2. 1-12. Read it in 
one of these places. 

2. In this lesson we find Jesus healing the sick. 

Make a list of other acts of kindness which 
you have learned that he performed at dif- 
ferent times. Do you think we can serve 
him by doing similar acts of kindness or 
service? 

3. Find in a geography or cyclopaedia a picture 

of the kind of house in which Peter lived. 
How were the roofs made ? How were the 
stairs built? 

4. Write in your notebook verses 4 and 5 of 

the hymn "We Would See Jesus." 



211 



CHAPTER XXX 
A LESSON FOR TRAIL FOLLOWERS 

A man was traveling down the steep, rocky 
gorge that led from Jerusalem to Jericho. He 
had twenty-one miles to walk before he came to 
the city, and he was walking alone. This was a 
dangerous road where many a lonely traveler 
had been waylaid and beaten and robbed, and 
only the fearless tried the journey alone. There 
were little caves in the rocks where highway rob- 
bers hid and sprang upon the travelers unawares. 
The road was known throughout that region as 
a dangerous place. 

Suddenly the traveler was thrown to the 
ground, and blows were rained upon him by 
strong hands. One stunning blow on his head, 
and he lay limp and unconscious by the road. In 
a little while all that he had with him had been 
stolen from him and he was left there to die alone. 
The traveler had fallen prey to the robbers. 

By and by, along the road coming from the 
other direction, walked a priest. He had been to 
Jerusalem, performing the services which it was 
his duty to observe. As he came up the steep road 
he could see something lying on the side of the 
road ahead of him. He imagined at once what 
had happened, for he lived in Jericho and knew 



A LESSON FOR TRAIL FOLLOWERS 

all about the dangers from highwaymen. So he 
took care to go by on the other side of the road, 
where he could look the other way and not have 
to turn and help the man. Such dreadful sights 
as this made him too sad, he could not be troubled 
with them. 

The priest had just passed out of sight when a 
lawyer came up the road. He too could see the 
helpless man lying by the road. He was used to 
finding out the reasons for things, so he went over 
to look at the man to find out what was the mat- 
ter. When he saw how badly hurt he was the 
lawyer decided that he could not do anything for 
him and hurried along toward Jericho. 

Some time after this a Samaritan came down 
that way riding on his donkey. When he saw the 
man lying by the road he jumped down from his 
beast and ran over to his side. One look at the 
man convinced the Samaritan that he was of a 
tribe which had no dealings with the Samaritans. 
There was no reason why he should be called upon 
to help a man of this nation, but the Samaritan 
never stopped to think of this. He took out the 
medicines which he carried with him and began 
to try to revive the unconscious victim of the 
robbers. He poured soothing oil on the gashes in 
his flesh and rubbed his forehead with wine to 
bring him back to life. Then he lifted the 
stranger in his arms and put him on his own don- 
key and led the animal until they came to the inn 
where the drivers of the caravans always stopped. 

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FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

The proprietor came running out to see who his 
guests were. 

"Take this man in," said the good Samaritan. 
"Put him to bed and take good care of him. I 
will pay the bill." 

The Samaritan stayed all night himself and 
did everything he could for the man, but the next 
morning he was compelled to continue his 
journey. 

Before he left, when he paid his own bill, he 
gave the innkeeper money enough to pay for the 
wounded man to be taken care of until he should 
be able to return home. 

"Take good care of him," he said, "and if it 
costs more than this, I will pay you myself when 
I come back this way." 

Jesus told a story like this to a group of men 
who were asking him questions about the way 
people ought to live to please God. A certain 
lawyer had asked Jesus this question, "Master, 
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 

Jesus then said, "What does the law say about 
it?" 

The lawyer was well-informed, so he answered 
promptly, "The law says, Thou shalt love the 
Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all 
thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." 

Jesus said: "Your answer is right. If you do 
all this, you will live truly." 

But the lawyer wanted to show off a little be- 
214 



A LESSON FOR TRAIL FOLLOWERS 

fore the company, so he asked another question 
which he thought not even Jesus could answer. 
So he persisted, "And who is my neighbor?" 

In those days there were certain groups of 
people who thought they were too righteous to 
associate with other people, and there were some 
whose ideas were not the same as those of the 
people who lived near them, and they scorned all 
those who did not agree with them about the law 
and the prophets. Some people actually shunned 
those who were of different nationality from their 
own, so the lawyer really had asked Jesus a very 
deep and searching question. Instead of answer- 
ing it as they might have expected, Jesus told 
them the story of the good Samaritan. When 
he had finished the story he asked, "Which now of 
these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him 
that fell among the thieves?" And the lawyer 
answered, "He that showed mercy on him." Then 
Jesus gave this direction: "Go and do thou like- 
wise." 

Study Topics 

1. Read the Bible story found in Luke 10. 

25-37. 

2. What was the "law" which Jesus referred 

to in his question to the lawyer ? 

3. Can you think of some ways in which we can 

"go and do likewise"? 

4. Tell the story of the lawyer questioning 

Jesus. 

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FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

5. Tell the story of the traveler who fell among 

thieves as Jesus told it to his hearers. 

6. Imagine yourself the Samaritan. Write 

an account of your journey and your 
adventure. 



216 



CHAPTER XXXI 
A HELPER OF THE PATH-FINDER 

When Jesus did his great work on earth he 
needed friends and companions to help him. so 
he chose twelve men, who were to go with him as 
he journeyed. These men learned from Jesus by- 
watching when he worked and listening when he 
taught, so that they might carry out his plans 
after he had gone. 

The first one he chose was a man named Peter, 
a fisherman, who was mending nets with his 
brother Andrew one day when Jesus came by. 
Jesus came up to them and said, "Come with me, 
and I will make you fishers of men." 

Immediately they left their nets and started 
after Jesus and became his helpers. They had 
many wonderful experiences with Jesus as they 
followed him, learning how to carry on his work 
in the world. They were with him when he 
preached the Sermon on the Mount. Andrew 
brought to Jesus the lad who had the loaves and 
fishes from which the Ave thousand were fed. 
These helpers saw Jesus heal the sick and restore 
sight to the blind and cast evil spirits out of men's 
hearts, and they had watched him take the lame 
by the hand and lift them up until they could 

217 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

leap and run. There was nothing that was hid 
from them in all the wonderful works of the 
Master whom they followed. 

Peter thought the greatest thing about Jesus 
was his power to forgive sins, and to help bad 
people become good and happy. Perhaps this 
was because Peter was hot-tempered and impul- 
sive, and often did things himself for which he was 
sorry afterward, and he appreciated what it 
meant to be forgiven. Jesus needed to forgive 
Peter many times in the three years while they 
worked together, but he always did forgive 
freely. 

One day when the twelve friends of Jesus were 
in a boat out on the sea, they looked out over the 
water and saw Jesus walking on the water toward 
them. Peter wanted to be sure that it was Jesus 
so he cried out, "Master, if it is you, bid me come 
to you on the water." 

"Come," said Jesus, and Peter climbed right 
out of the boat and started walking on the water 
toward Jesus. But before he had gone very far, 
he began to be afraid, and he stopped looking at 
Jesus, and looked down at his own feet, and then 
he began to sink, and he cried out in terror, "Mas- 
ter, save me !" 

And Jesus, standing calmly on the water, 
reached out his hand and caught Peter and said : 
"O what a little faith you had, Peter. Why did 
you doubt me?" Then Jesus held Peter's hand 
and they walked over to the boat together. 

218 



A HELPER OF THE PATH-FINDER 

Peter was made up of two different feelings. 
One of these was courage ; the other was fear. 

Sometimes he was just as brave as a lion, and 
again he was afraid of things which could not 
even hurt him. But Jesus knew that Peter had 
it in him to be brave all the time, and he was sure 
the day would come when Peter would be a hero, 
and Jesus was not disappointed in his follower in 
the end, although it took him a long time to learn 
to be courageous always. 

As the twelve friends lived with Jesus day by 
day they learned something about the courage 
and daring of their Master that surprised even 
them. He told them that there was only one way 
he could prove to the whole world how much he 
loved all people and that was to die to prove his 
love. He deliberately chose to suffer for the sake 
of all who needed him. No one has ever been able 
to understand all the reasons which Jesus had for 
showing such courage, or why that was the only 
way for him to prove that he was the Son of God, 
but that was what he did. Peter could not bear 
to think that Jesus was going to suffer, and he 
used to argue with Jesus about it and beg him 
not to let his enemies catch him; but when he 
talked like this Jesus would say, "You are a hin- 
drance to me, Peter, for you are thinking as 
men think, while I am thinking the thoughts of 
God." 

One day Jesus took Peter and James and John 
with him to the top of a high mountain where 

219 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

there were no other people, and when they 
reached the top a wonderful light shone from 
Jesus' face, and his clothes became glistening 
white, and by his side on the mountain they saw 
Moses and Elijah standing. 

When Peter saw this glorious sight he cried 
out, "Master, we are so thankful we are here! 
Let us put up three tents, one for you, one for 
Moses and one for Elijah, and remain here 
always." 

But almost before he finished speaking, a 
bright cloud spread above them and a voice out 
of the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." 

When Peter and James and John heard the 
voice they knew that God was speaking, telling 
them that all Jesus did was right, even if they 
could not understand it, and they fell upon their 
faces in great fear. But Jesus came and touched 
them and said, "Rouse yourselves and have no 
fear." 

When they looked up at him only Jesus was on 
the mountain and Moses and Elijah had gone 
back into heaven. Then Jesus turned and led the 
way down the mountain, and they all came back 
to their daily work. % 

One day just before the time when Jesus was 
going to give up his life to prove his love for the 
world, Peter was sitting in the courtyard of a 
palace. He was there because Jesus was inside 
the palace, being tried before his enemies on a 

220 



A HELPER OF THE PATH-FINDER 

false charge. What came over Peter as he sat 
there no one ever will be able to understand, but 
he went back on Jesus. A maidservant came up 
to him and said, scornfully, "You too were with 
Jesus!" And Peter answered, "I do not know 
what you mean." 

Then he went out and stood by the gate, and 
another girl came up to him and said, mockingly, 
"This man was with Jesus!" And Peter cried 
out, "I do not even know the man!" 

Then he stood there moodily thinking, and a 
crowd of men came by and said, "Certainly you 
too are one of his company, for you use the same 
language as his." 

And again Peter said, "I do not know the 
man." 

Just then Jesus passed on his way out of the 
courtroom, and he looked over at Peter. All at 
once it swept over Peter how contemptible and 
cowardly he had been to deny being Jesus' friend, 
and he went off alone and wept aloud bitterly. 
But Jesus forgave him. 

So Jesus died as he had told his friends he 
would, to prove his love for the whole world. But 
after he was put to death, the wonder of his 
power shone forth more than it had done in his 
life. 

He was buried in a cave tomb, and a great 
stone was rolled before the door and sealed with 
a great seal. Then a guard was placed at the 
entrance to the tomb, to see that no one broke 

%%1 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

the seal, for the enemies of Jesus were afraid that 
his friends would try to take his body away. 

For three days Jesus had been buried in the 
tomb, when one morning early before it was light, 
Mary, who loved him so dearly, came down to the 
tomb to visit it. When she came there she found 
the stone rolled away and the tomb was empty, 
and the grave clothes which Jesus had worn, 
were rolled up lying there. Mary turned and 
ran as fast as she could, to find Peter and John, 
to tell them this strange news, and they came run- 
ning as fast as they could, also, to find out if it 
was true. Peter went right into the tomb and 
there he saw the grave clothes lying, and Jesus' 
body was not there. 

Mary waited outside, and as she stood there 
some one came up to her and asked, "Why are 
you standing here weeping? Whom do you 
seek?" 

Mary thought he was the man who had charge 
of the grounds, and she said, "Sir, if you have 
carried the body of Jesus away from here tell 
me where you have laid him." 

Then the one standing by her side called her by 
her own name. "Mary," he said. 

She looked up in wonder, and there was Jesus 
standing by her. He had risen from the grave 
and was alive and well again. 

That same evening Peter was in the house with 
the other friends of Jesus, and the doors were 
locked because they did not want anyone else to 



A HELPER OF THE PATH-FINDER 

come in. Suddenly Jesus appeared among them 
just as he had been before he was crucified. 

"Peace be unto you," said he. 

They were filled with wonder and joy to see 
him alive again. He told them that he depended 
upon them to carry on the work which he had 
begun in the world, for he was going back to 
heaven to be with his Father, and he ended by 
saying, "As the Father hath sent me, I also send 
you." 

A few days later Peter was with some of the 
other friends of Jesus fishing in the lake. They 
had been fishing all night long, but they had 
caught nothing and they were hungry and worn 
out and discouraged. Very early in the morning 
they looked toward the shore and saw Jesus 
standing there. He called to them using a name 
that showed how he loved them. 

"Children," he called, "have you any food 
there?" 

"No, Master," they answered. 

"Throw out the net on the right-hand side," 
called Jesus, "and you will find fish." At once 
they threw out the net and caught so many fish 
that they had to pull all together to draw in 
the net. 

When Peter saw Jesus standing on the shore 
he did not wait to catch any fish; he forgot all 
about being hungry. He sprang right out of the 
boat, and with his eyes fastened on Jesus made 
straight for the shore. When the others came in 

223 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

they found that Jesus had laid a fire for them 
and they cooked the fish over the coals and ate 
breakfast, and Peter sat by Jesus and would 
not leave his side. 

That morning Jesus asked Peter the same 
question three times. The question was this: 

"Peter, do you love me?" 

Peter said, "Master, you are everything to 
me. 

Then Jesus gave Peter a special piece of work 
to do in carrying out his work in the world, as a 
token that he believed that the brave side of Peter 
had conquered the weak side ; and Jesus was not 
mistaken in Peter, for he never failed him again. 

He became a man of iron courage, and dared 
everything for the sake of the Master whom he 
so dearly loved, and became one of the best whom 
Jesus trusted with the keeping of the Marked 
Trail. 

A Beacon on the Trail in Memory of 
the Apostles 

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker 
of heaven and earth : 

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; 
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of 
the Virgin Mary ; suffered under Pontius Pilate, 
was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he 
rose from the dead ; he ascended into heaven, and 
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Al- 

224* 



A HELPER OF THE PATH-FINDER 

mighty; from thence he shall come to judge the 
quick and the dead. 

I believe in the Holy Ghost ; the holy catholic 
Church, the communion of saints; the forgive- 
ness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and 
the life everlasting. Amen. 

Study Topics 

1. How many helpers did Jesus choose to go 

with him as he worked ? What were their 
names and their occupations? Write 
these down in a list. 

2. Read Luke 21. 1-17. 

3. Tell the story about Peter walking on the 

water. 

4. Tell the story about the catch of fish. 

5. How did Jesus tell Peter to prove his love 

for him? What did Jesus mean by "feed 
my lambs" and "feed my sheep"? 



225 



CHAPTER XXXII 
ONE WHO PUT UP MANY SIGN POSTS 

A man was traveling along the highroad that 
led to the city of Damascus. In the bag by his 
side were important papers, which gave him a 
right, in the eyes of the law, to do the things 
which he had set out to do. The man's name was 
Saul, and he was of the city of Tarsus. He was 
so prominent in Tarsus, where he was born, that 
the people were proud to have him called Saul 
of Tarsus. He had studied with the greatest 
teacher of those days, to whose school all the 
young men who were studying law desired to go. 
This teacher was named Gamaliel, and it was a 
recommendation of ability, for anyone to be able 
to say that he had been educated in the school of 
Gamaliel. Saul had been one of the most bril- 
liant pupils in this school, and he not only knew 
the law of the times in which he lived, but he also 
knew the laws of his forefathers. 

He had heard about a new religion which had 
sprung up in the country round about, in which 
men were following the teachings of one called 
Jesus, who had given his life for the sake of this 
religion. He had left some disciples to carry on 
his teachings, and they were going about the 

226 



ONE WHO PUT UP MANY SIGN POSTS 

country claiming that this Jesus was the Son of 
God. They were holding great meetings in 
which they were persuading other people to ac- 
cept this religion which they taught. 

All this made Saul of Tarsus very angry. He 
believed in God and in Moses and Elijah, and 
in the Ten Commandments, but he did not believe 
in this man Jesus Christ or in any of his disciples. 
He therefore decided to use all his influence to 
put a stop to this new teaching. The governor 
gave him written permission to put these people 
to death if he found any of them teaching the new 
doctrine. So Saul went about the land seizing 
upon the men and women who believed in Jesus, 
and who would not go back on their faith, putting 
some of them in prison and giving orders that 
others should be put to death. 

On this day he was on his way to the city of 
Damascus to try to find some of the followers of 
Jesus, who had escaped from other cities and 
taken refuge there. 

He was determined to arrest them and bring 
them back in chains to the city of Jerusalem, 
where they were to be imprisoned and persecuted. 
The papers which he carried in his bag were let- 
ters from the high priest, which gave him power 
to do this. As he walked along the road he was 
trying to think of all the different things he could 
do to these people to make them stop teaching 
about Jesus. 

Suddenly Saul fell to the ground. He had 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

almost reached the city of Damascus, but he could 
go no farther. A voice was speaking to him which 
he had never heard before. 

The voice said, "Saul, Saul, why are you per- 
secuting me?" 

In wonder and awe Saul asked, "Who art thou, 
Lord?" 

And the answer came, "I am Jesus, whom you 
are persecuting. It hurts me when you do this. 
But rise, and go into the city and you will be 
told what to do now." 

The men who were traveling with Saul stood 
dumb with amazement. They could hear the 
sound of a voice but they could not understand 
what the voice was saying, but they could see a 
dazzling light which shone around them. But 
Saul saw something in the midst of this light 
which they could not see; Saul had a vision of 
heaven, in which he saw Jesus Christ himself. 

Saul rose from the ground, but he was so 
blinded by the dazzling vision that he could not 
see at all. His companions had to take him by 
the hand and lead him into the city. They took 
him to the house of a man named Judas, who 
lived in the street called Straight, and there they 
left him. 

For two days Saul was blind, and he would 
neither eat nor drink, but he prayed constantly. 
On the third day a man whom he had never known 
before, who was a follower of the teachings of 
Jesus, came to the house of Judas and asked to 







COPYRIGHT ,. 



>\\\<\ 



PAUL AT MILETUS 



ONE WHO PUT UP MANY SIGN POSTS 

see Saul of Tarsus. ' When he came into the room 
where Saul was he said, "Saul, brother Saul, even 
Jesus who appeared to you on your journey, has 
sent me to restore your sight, that you may be 
filled with faith in him." 

Instantly Saul could see again, and he ate and 
drank and was filled with renewed strength. 

What a change came over this man! He had 
come down to Damascus to capture those who 
believed in Jesus, but instead of doing that he 
joined the company of disciples and began to 
preach about Jesus himself, with all the power 
he had. 

People everywhere were amazed and said, "Is 
this the same man who threatened to wipe out all 
those who believed in Jesus, and who came here 
with letters from the high priest on purpose to 
carry them away?" 

But Saul paid no attention to their comments 
and went right on preaching about Jesus. After 
awhile he came back to Jerusalem and went on to 
Tarsus, but from the day of his experience on the 
Damascus road he continued to be faithful to 
Jesus Christ. 

He entered upon a life of such adventure by 
land and by sea, as no other man has ever had. 
No trial was too hard for him, no danger was 
too great for him to face with courage and calm- 
ness, no journey was too difficult for him to un- 
dertake for the sake of Jesus. Day and night 
he traveled, and preached and worked and 

229 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

prayed and pleaded with people to believe in 
Jesus Christ. 

He was shipwrecked and cast upon an island; 
he was put into prison ; he was mobbed and beaten 
and locked in chains, but he never once gave up — 
nor took back anything he had said for Jesus. 
Such courage and bravery and unfailing loyalty 
make a story of thrilling interest. 

His name was changed from Saul to Paul, and 
this must have made him glad, because his nature 
was changed as well. He came to be known as 
Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ. 

He wrote many books after this and they made 
his name famous. In these books he told of his 
adventures, of his hairbreadth escapes, of his 
strange deliverance from prison, and of his expe- 
riences in the courts of kings, but he never grew 
tired of writing and telling about the wonderful 
day on the Damascus road, when Jesus spoke to 
him and changed his life. 

He went on missionary journeys into the most 
dangerous places, and never complained of the 
hardships which he had to endure, and he re- 
mained true and steadfast to the end. Some of 
his finest books were written while he was in 
prison. 

Once he was taken prisoner and brought before 
one ruler after another to be tried for teaching 
that Jesus' power was greater than that of any 
earthly ruler, and he told the story of his life so 
eloquently that one ruler after another refused to 

230 



ONE WHO PUT UP MANY SIGN POSTS 

pass judgment upon him. At last, at his own 
request, he was sent to Rome to be tried before 
the great Caesar himself. 

Finally on reaching Rome, Paul came before 
the leading men, for Caesar was not there when 
he arrived. This gave him an opportunity to tell 
about Jesus, and he preached so wonderfully that 
they treated him very kindly, and gave him a 
house to live in, where he stayed for two years 
constantly preaching about Jesus and his work 
on earth. 

Paul opened the Marked Trail to all the na- 
tions of the earth, in the name of the greatest 
of all Path-finders, Jesus Christ, and it is through 
his work that we have learned many lessons about 
the Right Way. 

One of the Sign Posts which Paul Set in 
the Trail 

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 
but have not love, I am become sounding brass, 
or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of 
prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowl- 
edge ; and if I have all faith, so as to remove moun- 
tains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though 
I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though 
I give my body to be burned, but have not love, 
it profiteth me nothing. 

Love suffereth long and is kind; love envieth 
not, love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth 
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, 

231 



FOLLOWERS OF THE MARKED TRAIL 

is not provoked, taketh no account of evil; re- 
joiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth in the 
truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, 
hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never 
faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall 
be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall 
cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be 
done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy 
in part: but when that which is perfect is come, 
then that which is in part shall be done away. 

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt 
as a child, I thought as a child : but now that I am 
become a man, I have put away childish things. 
For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face 
to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know 
even also as I have been known. But now abideth 
faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of 
these is LOVE. 

— i Cor. 13. 



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